Before Our Time
by Megarra Chrysanthemum
Summary: Harry and Hermione unwittingly set off a potion sending themselves and others into England, PreHogwarts. Do they stay or try and escape a time so unlike their own? Story is now complete
1. The Beginning

Disclaimer: These characters are not my own. They are owned by JKR.

Hermione Granger swept a stray lock of hair from her face. Her dissertation on the downward spiral of wizard politics was nearly finished. She supposed she should continue her research on the positive effects of muggle enlightenment to the wizarding world. The purebloods were positively livid that Minister Potter had started the slow merge with the muggle world. Hermione was very proud of her friend. The whole of the wizarding world had been baffled when Harry had gone to the Dursley's to talk about introducing the wizarding world to the muggle world. The Dursley's had been oddly amenable to the idea. No one knew that Harry had been talking with the Dursley's for years prior to officially approaching them with the idea. Hermione never could tell on her visits to his relatives if they had been spelled or not.

A crick in her neck grew in its annoyance. She slowly rolled her head, hoping to work the stiffness out. The darkness outside grew until there was no trace of the sun. Turning back to her books, Hermione leaned over reading intently. She showed no notice of the outside world until a knocking came at her door. Hermione could tell from the slow, yet loud beat, that the person had been knocking for some time. She smiled ruefully to herself, standing up. Taking a quick stretch, she ambled over to the door, opening it. "Harry!" She said, hugging him, "Come on in."

"Good to see you, Hermione," Harry laughed, entering the apartment, looking around. He shook his head, "Mione, do you ever stop reading? Or is a book forevermore going to be glued to your hands?"

"Harry Potter! Getting a Mastery in the wizarding world is not as easy as it seems! Especially in an area as complex as the integration of the muggle and wizarding worlds. The complexity of the consequences on both ends are mind-boggling and at times hard to comprehend. The very fab-" Hermione ceased talking when Harry put a finger on her lips,

"I definitely did not mean to start the brain prattling on." Hermione glared at him.

"Then why did you come Harry? You rarely have time for social visits anymore, so I will not believe you for one second if that is your reason." Harry shook his head, grinning ruefully,

"You know me all too well, Hermione." Harry took a seat on her couch, lounging comfortably on it, as though he always came to visit. Hermione did not mind that he was so comfortable here since she had been the one to nurse him back to health after Voldemort was defeated. "I have a big favor to ask of you."

"I don't like the sound of that, but I'll go ahead and bite: what's the favor?" Hermione mock-glared at Harry, "Wipe that smug look off your face right now, Mr. Potter."

"All right! Simmer down!" Harry held up his hands in mock surrender. His face sobered up quickly into the all too familiar Minister face as Hermione thought of it, "We finally have control of the Snape estate. I need someone I trust to go through all of his possessions, cataloguing what could be of use in his research. Despite his questionable loyalties, the man was a brilliant potions master. His research could be of immeasurable use to the Ministry. Are you willing to help?"

Hermione gaped at Harry, surprised that he would ask her to complete this mission, not some other person. She was hardly qualified to disarm Dark traps. At least as far as the Ministry knew, she was only as good as the seventh year Defense classes. She supposed Harry knew better. In fact, Hermione knew that he depended on her willingness to go forward in everything. Her thoughts kept jumping around, continually heading back to the fact that she had the opportunity to explore the Snape estate. All she could think about was having the privilege of seeing all the books that Severus Snape had collected over the years. She knew that she would never have enough time to read all of them, considering she had to write her dissertation. Her mind finally rested on the thought of her paper, "I can't Harry. My dissertation to get my Mastery is due in a few weeks. I don't want to lose this opportunity. You do understand, don't you?"

Harry grinned at Hermione, enjoying the baffled look on her face. He slowly pulled out a letter, handing it over to. Harry's eyes lit up as he watched Hermione's eyes grow wider. He could tell from the slight tremor in her hands that she was ecstatic with what she was reading: a letter from her university allowing her extra time on her dissertation.

"Oh Harry! Of course I'll go! When do you want me to be there? I can go now! Actually, that's probably not the smartest of ideas. I haven't slept in some time. How much time can I spend there? When do you need everything by? Do you need to keep all of his stuff? Can some of the books go missing?" Harry laughed uproariously at Hermione, no longer being able to contain his humor at the situation,

"Hermione! Slow down!" Harry tried to calm himself down, but Hermione was still bustling about, rambling on. Harry had stopped with trying to follow her trains of thought. Everything she said was jumbled together with all her other thoughts. Harry Grabbed her, pulling her to a stop, "Hermione. Hush for a minute. I'll tell you all the details you need to know about the job. For me to do that, you have to be quiet." Hermione sank into the couch, looking at him, blushing slightly. Harry snickered at her expression, "Good old Hermione. Interested in learning." He teased her lightly. Hermione smiled.

"And you are the same old Harry. Interested in protecting the world from itself." Hermione hugged him close, "It's what everyone has always loved about both of us."

Harry nodded in agreement, sitting down on the couch, putting his head on her shoulder. Hermione pulled him into a sisterly embrace, holding him close. Harry closed his eyes, "You can take what you want from his household, without anyone batting an eye as long as it isn't too much. But, please, remove anything that should never be in the Ministry's hands. You know the types of things that I speak of." Hermione nodded. Harry was still amazed at how quickly Hermione could go from being all giddy in her love of knowledge to the serious, almost McGonagall like face.

"Where would you like me to take them? The Place d'ancienne Sagesse (place of ancient wisdom)?" Harry nodded. Hermione looked at him, wondering what was going through his head at that moment. There was a combination of a mischievous glint in his eye with darkness beaded around it. Some days, she wondered if parts of Voldemort had seeped in to him. Usually, whenever Hermione wondered that, Harry would go and do something exceptionally stupid, almost ending in his death. She wondered why the people continued to keep him in as Minister. Harry positively hated it there. If the Ministry ever let go of Harry, the Headmistress was going to hand Hogwarts over to Harry. Hermione was never quite sure whether Harry was pleased with that prospect or upset. Hermione slowly drifted off to sleep, her mind still wondering about the Snape household, but quitted down.

Hermione woke up to daylight streaming across her face. She sat straight up in her bed, confused as to how she had gotten there. The curtains had fallen open at some point during the night. Hermione sat up, shivering as the cool air touched her skin. She pulled her robe on, standing up, walking to the window. She looked outside, seeing a bright, sunny London. To her, that was a wonderful change from the normal, dismal gray days that hung over London like the plague. She turned back to her room, seeing the note on her desk from Harry. A smile tugged at her lips, the realization hitting her that Harry had taken her to her bed. Sitting down at the desk, she pulled the letter close, reading it.

Hermione- 

_I am sorry for not saying goodbye. I had a meeting rather early with the Headmistress. Seeing as the last time I had a meeting with her, I was hours late, I figured I might as well be on time. Don't think that Hermione! I am not afraid of the Headmistress. Yes, she was rather scary, but nothing can ever beat Hagrid's anger the day that Voldemort killed his beloved. And yes, I will be visiting Hagrid. You know that I always do. He needs the company, like so many others. _

_Tonks expects to see you sometime around two this afternoon, if not earlier. Please do not be later than two. Tonks is also rather annoyed with my lack of time perception. What can I say? Probably nothing in my own defense. Oh well, I must be off. _

_Harry Potter_

Hermione laughed at the sardonic tone Harry had managed to get across, even though it was a note. She remembered fondly Harry's first meeting with the Headmistress. Everything seemed to go wrong for Harry that day, starting with Harry waking up four hours late. He had been exceptionally snippish, arriving hours late to every meeting. Nobody realized he was ill until he collapsed during the Auror's briefing. It was the first time in the history of the Ministry that a group of twenty people had crowded into a St. Mungo's Ward to chastise the Minister of Magic. After he was released, Harry had left a note saying he was going to clear a few things up. When he came back, the wizarding world started on its path of integration into the muggle world.

Looking up, Hermione saw that the clock read one in the afternoon. Her eyes widened a little, motivating her to get ready for the day. She barely managed to get to the Snape estate on time. The Floo was always overflowing whenever she needed to use it. However, she always managed to get to where she was going within a decent space of time. Hermione looked around the estate, loving the greenness of the trees and flowers. Judging by the size of, what Hermione supposed was the gardener's cottage, the rest of the estate was huge. She would love to have lived in this place. There were so many small corners that a person could tuck themselves away in with a good book, completely losing themselves to the world. Hermione did however recognize the danger of doing that herself. She would be inclined to forget ever coming back out of book land. One time Harry had come to visit, he had found her so engrossed in her studies that it was painfully obvious that she had not eaten in days. Harry had not been very pleased with Hermione's forgetful attitude. The love of learning was too big a draw for her. She felt aimless in the wizarding world of this day and age, not really knowing what she should be trying to accomplish. Either what she truly wanted to attempt wouldn't be funded by the government, or it already was being funded by the government for other researchers. She wasn't about to steal away someone else's well-earned research grant. Besides, it is not like she could.

The importance of the assignment Harry had given her had not been lost on her. She knew that Harry had seen how drifting she had been. The craftiness that Harry was capable off told her that he had planned this to give her a chance to review what Snape had been researching and continue it. Continuing his research would mean she didn't have to fight anyone else over it because she would have found out first what had been researched.

Glancing around, Hermione caught a glimpse of the pink-haired Auror. Hermione hurried towards her, still taking everything in. "Tonks."

"Hermione. Glad you could join us." Tonks had mellowed since the war. Remus had perished, very early on in the war, at least that's what people thought. Hermione knew better. Remus had become a danger to normal people, so the Ministry had had plans to take him away. Harry had beaten them to the punch, hiding him away, making the only person he trusted Remus's Secret Keeper: Sirius Black. Hermione had tried to ask Harry how he had gotten Sirius back, but Harry had been vague, giving non-answers. Hermione had worried about that, but had dropped it, wanting to help Tonks get through her grief. Hermione prayed everyday that Tonks would never find out the deceit that they had all had against her.

"Sorry, the Floo was backed up again." Hermione always explained herself to Tonks. She never had to, yet she did. Hermione knew that Tonks resented the fact that hermione received special treatment from Harry, however Hermione could not find it in herself to care about that. She knew that Ron and Harry also had these apathetic feelings towards life whenever they met up with someone who was in an authorative position during the war. Ron had escaped from England all together, going to the African wizards to work with them. Surprisingly, he made a good teacher.

The roll of Tonks' eyes gave away her irritation with Hermione. Hermione merely followed her into the foyer of the magnificent mansion. The openness in the whole building astounded her. She had expected something more restrictive, "Have fun." Tonks snapped, leaving Hermione alone. Hermione grinned to herself, smelling the air.

"Well, Professor, let's see what wonders you left us." Hermione whispered to herself, starting at the most logical place, the living room. Hermione knew in that instant that the Snape household was going to be full of books everywhere. Nooks and crannys stuffed to the brim with books. The anticipation filled Hermione with excitement.

Hours had passed since she had started working. Looking outside showed by the lack of light that nighttime had come. She closed her eyes for a minute as she slowly stretched her body out. She wandered the house, wondering if there was any place near by that had food. She did not really fancy having to Floo all the way home to get food.

A light flickered at the end of the hallway, confusing Hermione. She had thought she was the only one here. She walked to the end of the hall, "Hello?" She called out, looking around. It was a completely empty room except one thin crack. Hermione went over, lightly applying pressure to the line. Nothing happened until she pushed a little bit of magic up the crack. The door went inward, swinging outward, revealing a staircase, spiraling down into darkness. Hermione lit the Lumos spell on her wand, decided that she would dare walking down the stairs, curiosity winning out over her need to be safe.

A/N: This chapter was updated. There were a few minor errors that were brought to my attention. They have been edited. A new chapter will be posted by the end of day today. Please leave a review if you have the time! Especially if you have questions!


	2. Questions and Observations

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters. JKR has that right.

The light from Hermione's wand barely gave off any glow in the oppressive darkness. Missing a step, Hermione fell forward, sliding down what were apparently the last few stairs. She winced, standing up. During her haphazard fall, a light spell had been triggered illuminating the surrounding area.

Hermione swore that the Snape estate would never cease to amaze her. Hermione walked to the first cauldron that she saw, looking into it. She let out a disappointed sigh, seeing that nothing was being brewed. Quick inspection revealed that none of the cauldrons were not in use. She supposed that it was to be expected considering that Snape had known he would probably die in the final battle.

Everyone still believed Snape to be a heartless traitor. Harry had wanted to keep that charade up, wanting the Snape estate. If Snape was believed to have been on the side of good, the Ministry would never have been allowed to seize the property. Harry's cunningness always astounded Hermione. It allowed her to see that he could have ended up in any house.

The notes next to the cauldron she was at caught her eye. They were on exceptionally old parchment paper. The handwriting was also oddly familiar. Hermione brushed that thought away, assuming that the person who wrote them was a younger Professor Snape. A small part of Hermione told her that that was not the case, but she ignored it in favor of the more plausible explanation.

Hermione tore her gaze from the notes to find a chair. She sat down, bending over the notes. From what she could decipher off the really old wording, the potion was meant to be a time potion. Hermione was pretty sure it was meant to act like a Time Turner, but taking the person farther back in time.

Looking around, Hermione's eyes fell upon the potion ingredients. She went over to them, dusting them off. She sighed, annoyance seeping into her. They were all horribly out of date. Gathering them up, along with the potion instructions, Hermione slowly exited the potions room, figuring that this must have been Snape's private work room. Tonks pounced on her as she left the house.

"Did you find anything?" Tonks demanded of her. Hermione congratulated herself mentally on that she had had the foresight to hide the parchment on herself before coming out. All that was visible was the old potion ingredients.

"I only found some out of date potion ingredients." Hermione said, handing over the potion ingredients.

"You were in there for over seven hours and that's all you found?" Tonks snapped.

Hermione couldn't help but let some of her pity for Tonks show through. She really did feel sorry for the woman who lost everything that she had had in the war. Hermione was very sorry for everyone who lost people that meant the world to them during the horrible war. Some part of Hermione was glad that Harry did still police the wizarding world, making sure that any potential dark wizard was taken of. Hermione knew that Harry didn't kill any of the dark wizards that he stopped as children, but merely placed them with loving families that would foster love in them instead of hate.

Tonks grabbed the potion ingredients, pissed at Hermione. She left without even checking to make sure everything was gone. Hermione sighed, realizing that she was lucky Tonks had gotten pissed at her.

The air was cool, a pleasant breeze rippling through the trees. A hand settled on her shoulder, "We should go somewhere quiet," Harry spoke softly, apparating her to his house. Hermione was going to get Harry back for startling her, but she loved going to his house. The property was located a wooded land, tucked away. Nobody in the Ministry or outside of it except for Hermione and the Headmistress knew where Harry lived. When questioned as to why that was by the Headmistress, Harry had just smiled enigmatically. Hermione remembered fondly the way the Headmistress seemed to be ruffled the rest of that visit.

The mannerisms Harry had exhibited that day were completely on par with how Dumbledore acted. The differences between the two of them were becoming fewer. Some people said that Harry was really channeling Dumbledore. Harry had confided in her that whenever he had to go and speak in public, he just thought like Dumbledore. As she figured it, he was almost always in the public's eye so the attitude he had there was seeping into his personality.

"I found something interesting." Hermione said as soon as they entered his house. At Harry's intrigued look, Hermione pulled out the parchment, unrolling it quickly. Watching Harry's face as he read provided Hermione with amusement. She could tell by his quizzical look that he didn't believe that it was possible. "I know, it seems improbable, but think about if it was true!"

"Who came up with this? I feel as though I should recognize this handwriting. It isn't nearly as bony as Snape's was. Could this have been his mother? I never knew his mother though. Maybe Snape filched it from Dumbledore." Harry was mumbling. It was obvious that he had not heard a word of what she said to him. Hermione didn't really care about that. "Who could it have been?"

The lights flickered on as they walked farther into his house, towards the kitchen. Waving his wand around, Harry started the food cooking on the stove. Hermione walked over, looking into the pots, smelling the aroma wafting out. She smiled, seeing that it was a favorite dish of their's: shepherd's pie. They had stumbled across this particular version of it in the rolling hills of Ireland as they searched for the last Horcrux.

Looking back on that day, Hermione knew it was a miracle that Ron hadn't left then. The anger he had felt towards everything dealing with the war had already been growing. Harry was an essential figure in the light's defense against the dark. When the war was over and Ron finally blew apart, he tore Harry to shreds. No one had heard from him in years. It was a pity, but it was better to have happened then. Reality had changed, shifted, mutated. With it, people had mutated along with it. Harry was obviously no longer the boy that he had been in school, the deftness of his decision when dealing with any of the ex-Death Eater's confirmed that. All but one Death Eater had been punished by way of Dementor's Kiss.

Draco Malfoy was the only Death Eater left living a life of relative simplicity. Hermione never could understand why Malfoy had been left alive, but she assumed that Harry had his reasons.

"Hermione, we should try and make this."

"Harry Potter! That is dangerous! We could be killed! We could-"

"Make the discovery of a life time. Think about it, this could be the ultimate weapon for any person on the side of light! All a person would have to do is go back and time and change the circumstances so that the dark wizard grew up differently! Catastrophes could be avoided."

"Harry…it doesn't work that way. Time isn't something to be played with lightly! It was hard enough just going to classes on a Time Turner. Going back and altering history could make things worse. Then the event is irreversible."

Harry sighed, sitting down, "I know. I just always wondered how different things could have been if Tom had been stopped. If he had been prevented from turning out the way that he did." Hermione sat down, hugging Harry. He rested his head on her shoulder closing his eyes. Hermione just sat there, holding him close, her hands running over his black hair. The unruliness of his hair never ceased to amaze her, yet it was always soft and tangle free. Harry slowly relaxed against her. After a few moments of silence he said, "If you don't stop I'll fall asleep without having had dinner." Hermione laughed, stopping her hands. Harry's green eyes glittered with amusement at her.

"Well, we can't have you slipping back into old habits, now can we."

"No, Mother, we can't." Harry accented the mother in such a way that it sounded like he was rolling his eyes with his tongue. Hermione loved how he could put facial expressions into his words.

A scream jolted Hermione into full alertness. She stood up, padding quickly into Harry's room. She knelt at the bedside, started to run her hand over his hair, "Shhhh. Harry, it's all right. It's just a dream." She murmured. She had known that the nightmares still plagued him, but this sounded like they were just as strong as they had been five and a half years ago. Hermione wished that she could take away some of his pain, but Harry was such a private person.

The tremors racking Harry's body calmed. Hermione didn't want to leave him, so she crawled into the bed, laying down next to him. She kept him close, not wanting him to shake anymore.

Calmness had spread over Hermione as she cracked open her eyes. She felt someone's breath on her shoulder, "Morning," Harry's sleepy voice whispered, close to her ear. "When did you get into my bed?" he asked.

Hermione smiled, "You had a nightmare. I didn't want you to have another one and wake up alone." Harry smiled knowingly, sitting up, stretching. Hermione watched him, mesmerized by the way his muscles moved in a liquid cat-like fashion. Even McGonagall didn't move as cat-like as this. Hermione fully believed that Harry's Animagus form was a lion or tiger. There was always the possibility that it was a gryphon, but no one truly believed that people could turn into mythical creatures. Hermione's form was a raven. She was unregistered with the Ministry, not wanting to go through the hassle when she doesn't even use it. Besides, technically the Minister of Magic did know, and he didn't care.

Hermione rolled out of the bed, smiling, "We should go to work."

"I suppose we should." Harry got up, stretching, "I will come by tonight to the Snape estate with the ingredients. It would be easiest to work on it there. Better than the Place d'ancienne Sagesse. We don't want to compromise it."

"No we don't. The last place we have away from the Ministry in full." Harry smiled, nodding in agreement. He handed Hermione some clothes. She blushed, seeing that they were hers. Chuckling, Harry went into the bathroom to get ready for the day. Hermione went to the guest bathroom, knowing that Harry would take her back to the work.

Harry sighed, heading into the Ministry after dropping Hermione at work. People waved to him as he headed up the Ministry lift to his office. He gave them a nod of the head. His arm became too tired if he waved to everyone that waved at him. He would be constantly waving his arm around, which was never good. He needed to not make an even bigger target of himself. Well, he wanted to be a target when he was fixing something, but if he was just walking to work, he did not want to be a target.

Luck was with him that day as he headed into his office. Harry was not stopped once. He smiled in relief. The smile faded away as he opened his office door to reveal the Headmistress and the Head of Magical Enforcement. "Good day." Harry greeted cordially, "To what do I owe this pleasure?"

"I need to know why one of my people has not been assigned to clearing out the Snape estate. They are more than qualified to empty out that vile man's house of its possessions!"

Harry bit back a sigh. Just that one comment showed him how bad this day was going to go. Looking at the Headmistress, Harry saw anger there as well,

"McGonagall, what has got you all huffed up?"

"Why has Snape not been cleared of all charges? He was clearly working for the side of the light the whole time, yet he is still treated like a common criminal! Without him, you would have never found the last Horcrux or known the spell that would end He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named for all time! Yet, instead of clearing an obviously innocent man, you allow one of the worst Death Eaters to run free! Why Harry?"

"Headmistress, Snape was a known Death Eater and the killer of one of the greatest wizards of our time. It would be wrong to exonerate the man of all charges against him. Also, I do not have to explain my actions regarding Draco Malfoy. He was an essential element in ending the war as well and does not deserve to be punished for his actions. If that is all you are here for, please leave." Harry spoke with a light tone, but made sure that she got the point. He was not going to change his mind about Snape or Malfoy, no matter what she said. As the door shut behind her, Harry turned to the last occupant in the room.

"Sorry for that Harry. She had told me to go first, so I came up with something on the spot. Have you found anything out yet?" Harry shook his head,

"I'm sorry Arthur. I contacted Ron, but he sent back a letter telling me to butt out."

"I couldn't believe it when she left to join Ron. Now I may not see my baby again. I shouldn't have yelled at her. I just didn't want her to join our program! She would have done better elsewhere!"

Harry nodded his head in understanding, "I know Arthur, but you have to see it from her perspective. She thought that you were just being completely overprotective. I am sure she's fine though. The letters didn't look authentic at all." Harry hugged Arthur, trying to convey his regrets in that one action. Apparently the hug was enough. Arthur pulled himself together, giving a small smile to Harry, "By the way, thank you for choosing Tonks. It will give the perfect illusion."

Arthur grinned, "I know. Tonks truly does hate you two, so everyone will believe that she is doing everything she can to make sure Hermione turns everything over. Yet, you two know how to make her angry or upset enough to leave."

"That was the hope." Harry grinned a little, but then sobered up, "I wish we could tell her. Let her know everything that has happened, but it is too dangerous. Everything regarding those two is too dangerous for now. I don't want to run the risk of ruining all that we have worked to achieve."

"I know Harry. I know. Oh well, we just have to do this one day at a time." Harry nodded his agreement with that statement. Waving goodbye to Arthur as he left, Harry turned his attention to today's agenda, and sighed when he realized he would be here for quite some time.

The day seemed to drag on for Hermione. Books were not holding her attention. All she wanted to do was go into the dungeon and start working on that potion. She wandered the household, trying to see if there was anything of interest. Portraits shot snide comments at her periodically. The statues complimented her. It was a weird juxtaposition.

"Hermione Granger, the most powerful muggle-born witch." A silky voice spoke, causing her to turn.

"If it isn't Malfoy, the turncoat." Hermione spat back. She knew that Malfoy had meant his words to be insulting. He laughed at her. He had really grown into his body. His silver blonde hair was kept short and out of his face, so that his eyes were as clear and easy to see. The robes were not all that expensive but accented every muscle on his body.

"Still trying to seem as sharp as ever, Granger. What are you doing here?"

"I am doing work for the Ministry. They obtained this estate and asked me to look into anything of consequence that might be here."

"And you just agreed? That doesn't seem like you at all, Granger. There must be a catch. Something like, making some of the artifacts disappear, maybe?" Hermione glared at him, giving nothing away yet letting him see her disgust at his presence. Malfoy stepped closer, trapping her into a corner, "I wouldn't touch any of the spheres that are around this household. They are all generally traps. Just a word of warning." Malfoy pushed away, turning and heading away. Hermione stood there, glaring at his back.

At the end of the hall, Malfoy turned back around, "And I will figure out what you two are up to. Inform the Minister that I want in." He gave a small wave as he left.

Hermione's face flushed with anger. The nerve of some people was just too much for her sometimes. Malfoy always managed to know what buttons to press to get her to respond. She wondered during some of their encounters whether he said the things he did just to see her rise to the insult.

Hermione continued walking. She listened to what Malfoy said, not touching the spheres. Some of them were gorgeous. She looked at the one on the bookcase. It was blue in color, yet an ever changing blue. It was absolutely beautiful. Looking at it, Hermione thought she saw images of Lily and James Potter, but that would make no sense. There would be no reason for Snape to have images of Harry's parents. She tried to back up from the sphere, but ended up straining her magic. All she could hear were screams as her vision tunneled in, and she saw only the sphere.

A/N: Well, I hope everyone has enjoyed the story thus far. This is my first foray into the fanfiction world in quite some time. Reviews are appreciated!


	3. Lunacy at the Ministry

**Disclaimer: **I do not own any of the characters in this story. They are owned by JKR.

Harry moaned, resisting the urge to pound his head against the desk. Within the span of four hours, he had had dozens of people 'visit' in an attempt to reverse his decision regarding Snape. There were days that being the Minister of Magic was more daunting than the prospect of being Headmaster of Hogwarts. Most of the time, he found himself preferring that option. However, every time he truly considered arranging his removal from office an incident occurred that convinced him to remain Minister for awhile longer. He supposed that some day soon nothing would change his mind, but for now, he would remain where he was.

Bells clanged. Harry groaned, remembering that he had mandated practice drills for if the Ministry was under attack. He listened to the bell, registering that it was a full blown mock attack. In a minute, Aurors would burst into his office and try to get him to safety. Harry smirked to himself. He did not plan on being in his office when they got here.

A small flick of his wrist saw that he was transported to an alleyway in London. Upon his arrival, Harry lengthened and changed his hair's color. His eyes darkened to a deep brown. Although he was powerful enough to stop any attack that came his way, it was not a good idea for the Minister of Magic to wander about on his own. Besides, if there was evidence of Harry's presence outside of the Ministry during the drills, there would be more serious repercussions than the angry mob that would descend on his office as soon as he returned. Stepping out of the alley, Harry decided now was a good time to go visit the Weasley twins.

The shop had the same grungy, yet fun appearance that it always had. Harry grinned seeing all the new products on the shelves. The twins had stayed in Diagon Alley, with a supplementary store where the Zonko's used to be in Hogsmeade. Buying out Zonko's had been the best thing that had ever happened to the Weasley twins. Their business had boomed, reaching all new levels. The Weasley family's bad luck still followed them, even though the war had ended. Bill Weasley had been fatally wounded. His wife, Fleur, had been killed at the hands of Death Eaters, along with their unborn child. Charlie had lost his sight in one eye, but magic was helping to make up for that.

Harry turned his thoughts to the next Weasley child: Percy. Percy's betrayal was perhaps the worst of all the tragedies. The public believed that Percy Weasley had followed the previous Minister of Magic, Cornelius Fudge, blindly in assisting Voldemort. The truth was that Cornelius Fudge had nothing to do with Percy turning to Voldemort. For the most part, Fudge had attempted to keep Percy out of it. Percy, however, had believed that Voldemort was right in attempting to change the Wizarding World. Harry had the Dementors kiss Percy, like the rest of the Death Eaters. The public, Ron included, had been outraged at the supposed disservice done to Percy Weasley. The public alleged that Percy had been innocent of all crimes, whereas Draco Malfoy, a worker for the Light, had been guilty. They thought that Draco and Percy's positions should have been reversed. There was some level of Harry that was bothered by the whole matter. On the other hand, the public still worshipped Harry, so he figured that he would not worry too much about the public's views.

"Can we help you with finding anything, mate?" A redhead poked his face around, talking with Harry. It was obvious that George had not recognized Harry. Harry smiled, almost smirking. He liked to see if he could fool them. Up until recently, he hadn't been able to. Most of the time they guessed immediately that it was him. The last time, George had told Harry that his facial expressions usually gave him away.

"Blimey!" Fred said, pulling Harry's arm, ushering him into the back, "You could warn us! And having to guess that it is you is rather annoying. Though, I suppose coming into a joke shop as the Minister of Magic would be rather unheard of."

"But think about it, Fred! He's known us for forever. We're his buddies, his pals! They would assume he's stopping in for a quick chat on his lunch break. I think that it is hurtful he pretends he doesn't know us anymore."

"Too true George. Too true. We should try a potion or Diahhrea Daiquiri on him."

"The Daiquiri sounds like an excellent form of revenge, dear brother." George turned around to reach the item in question as Fred went to go close the shop. When they both turned back to look at Harry, he was back to looking like Harry and chuckling like mad.

"You two are always good for laughs. Even when you aren't trying to be funny, you still manage it!" Harry wiped imaginary tears away from his eyes, grinning at the two Weasleys, who were looking at him like he was quite mad.

"Harry, mate, what have you been eating?"

"Fred, it would be more likely that he was drinking something to put him in such a state. Eating is highly unlikely."

"Yet again, you are too right!" They were both looking at Harry with wide eyes that were too innocent. Harry laughed at them. Fred and George joined in, before Fred asked, "What did you come here for Harry? We normally only have the pleasure of your company at Sunday family dinners."

"I need a favor."

"Sure, Harry. What can we do for you?"

"Do you have these potion ingredients?" Harry handed a list of ingredients over. He hadn't brought the original, knowing that George and Fred would be able to figure out what he was going to do. Hell, he hadn't even brought over a complete list of ingredients. He had only written down the ingredients that were pretty rare.

"Wow. These are pretty rare. Do we have these?" Fred asked George. He nodded. Fred grinned, going with George to collect the ingredients. Harry grabbed one or two items discreetly as they went into their stores. Harry took the ingredients when they came out,

"Thanks guys. And don't mention that you saw me during this time." They nodded,

"We know the drill Harry. One day they are going to find out where you go during the drills."

"They have to do better. If I can get out of the Ministry, the protection is taking too long to get there. It would be better if they gave the Minister an object that would get him out of the Ministry in case of an attack. If they don't, I'm going to start helping. It is highly inconvenient to be waiting for help when there are people potentially dying."

Fred and George gave each other a significant glance, "Harry, mate, you need a good stiff pint. Let us acquire you one from the pub." Harry glared at the two twins that had swung their arms around his shoulders,

"Thanks for the offer, but no thanks. I really should be getting back to work. They should be worried by now, and that is all that matters." Harry grinned at the twinstwins' look of exasperation. He waved good bye, disappearing from within their anti-apparition wards as well as the ones that had recently been placed on Diagon Alley. He apparated directly into his office at the Ministry of Magic. Alarm bells sounded the second he touched his desk. Harry grinned to himself, banishing the spells and traps that had been placed all around his office. He sat down in his chair, hiding the potion ingredients. Harry waited, rather impatiently, for his office door to be knocked on.

He was rather surprised when the door broke open, hitting the opposite wall. Arthur, McGonagall, the head of the Department of Mysteries (Luna Lovegood), and a few others stormed in. There were four people talking at once. Harry just leaned back in his chair, watching everyone. Harry was not surprised to see that Luna was silent. She had this happy expression on her face as though she was quite pleased with herself.

As soon as everyone else had simmered down, Harry looked at Luna, "Ms. Lovegood, do you have anything that you wish to add?" Harry bit his lip to keep from laughing at her slightly surprised look at being addressed.

"No Minister." Luna's happy look returned, but then a more normal expression came back out, "The cats ran amuck as expected."

"That is not good at all. I thought we were supposed to be improving the cats running amukamuck problem."

"That we are. But the cats are acting like sheep as opposed to predators. It is quite confusing. There is no way to make sense of it. I have tried. Ever since the mock battle ended, I have tried. But I just can't make sense of drabble that occurred. I truly did try Minister. I will look again though," Luna had babbled a little in her speech with the Minister, but Harry had listened intently to her. He had managed to pick out all the bits that were important.

"No need, Ms. Lovegood. You and your department have been working 'round the clock to test the Ministry as well as keep up with your other duties. By the way, how is the research coming into the secrets?"

"Quite fantastically Minister. The secrets hold many things that they do not wish to tell, but prying and further investigation is leading to some of those little truths to come out. I am sure that we will have solved some at some point in the future." Harry grinned. She had given a complete non-answer while still managing to answer his question. Harry was quite proud of his choice to be the Head of the Department of Mysteries. Granted, he had had an ulterior motive in that he wanted her to plan the mock battles, and who better to plan those mock battles than the Department of Mysteries.

"Thank you, yet again for a stellar review of your status." Harry turned back to the others in his office. His eyes roamed over all of them, taking in their feelings and the way they shuffled about, "I am very disappointed in every department. Not only did I have enough time to get out on my own, but there was enough time for a team to have come in and kidnapped me. What if this was a different Minister in this office? One not as strong as I? They could have been killed, or worse used against us! This is the fifth such battle that has ended like this. I expect the next time to be better. Also, Ms. Lovegood, I expect the next time a mock battle occurs, that it will be at new levels. It appears as though we are not challenging this Ministry enough. Maybe if they perceived that there was a true threat, they might defend the place that they have sworn to protect better."

"That is a thought Minister. I have heard that it is true that farmers will take up a pitchfork and beat back a trained soldier. That would be quite a theory to test. Easy to test. A good way. Make the cat into mice. Have the mice fight back. Don't make the mice be something they aren't. Mice don't make good cats. Mice do make good mice. Brilliant idea." Luna turned and left Harry's office, still muttering about mice and cats. Harry was also sure that he heard something about an elephant in there as well, but he was not willing to stake anything on it.

"Harry, we understand your disappointment, but it is also hard for us to defend the Ministry when we go into a panic because our Minister has gone missing!" Arthur said, his face showing that he had been worried about Harry, despite the fact that this was not the first time it had happened. There must be a level of love towards Harry that Arthur carried inside him that could not accept the fact that Harry could care for himself. It was touching to know that someone loved Harry that much.

"I understand Arthur, but your people have got to get up here sooner. I am not going to stand in an office and wait to be attacked or just twiddling my thumbs. If an attack is happening, I want to be in a safe house or helping in the battle. It is your choice Arthur. Please, don't make me choose the one that everyone will hate. Become better. I know that you can." Arthur nodded, showing that he had heard Harry and was prepared to acquiesce with that 'request'. He looked like he would say something more, but instead, he shook his head of red hair, turning and leaving.

The others stood in Harry's office, shifting their weight around. As McGonagall turned and left, they did as well. Harry smiled to himself, turning back to his work. He noticed that all of his paperwork had gone missing. There was a note on the desk.

_It didn't seem fair not to punish you. Rules of the game must be followed by everyone or the circus will not know what to do. You know that. _

_Luna Lovegood_

Harry threw his head back, laughing so loud that his secretaries heard him, as did the ministers on their way out. Harry continued laughing, even as he stood up to go to Luna. He figured that Luna would probably send him on a search for them. She always did make him work to repossess whatever object she had taken from him. It was a fun game. It's how Luna kept him on his leash and behaving inside in the Ministry.

Luna looked up from her desk as Harry entered, "I thought you would never realize. Or that maybe you would and not care. Glad to see you do." Her eyes were half-closed as she spoke to him. Harry knew that she didn't take drugs or anything. Her mind just moved so fast that sometimes certain sensory inputs overloaded her system. He knew that she periodically would plug her ears and close her eyes, essentially cutting herself off from the world until her mind got tired. "The rats are all sleeping, the dragon is awake."

Harry grumbled, leaving her office. By far, this was the worst clue she had ever given him in finding his work. He was going to be lucky if he found the paperwork by nighttime. Harry pulled out his wand, using the air as a drawing board. He had discovered that trying to figure out Luna's clues in his head was about as useful as throwing oneself off of a building. Needless to say, he wanted to find it with the utmost speed. The thought crossed Harry's mind that he could try not leaving during the mock battles, but there was no fun in being an obedient Minister.

Staring at the clue did not enlighten Harry as to where he should go to find either the paperwork or another clue. _Rats, dragons. Where are there rats and dragons? What could she mean by rats and dragons? Rats are often in dungeons. Dragon…I should know this._ Harry sighed, decided that sitting down would be better.

By the time lunchtime rolled around and people were leaving their offices on this floor, Harry had hung himself upside down to solve the puzzle. Everyone was looking at him oddly, not daring to approach him. They were worried about his sanity, but none of them wanted to risk him actually being enough off his rocker to hurt them. A few of the people jumped as Harry started laughing.

_It figures that she would choose that place. That's why McGonagall was there. She had the paperwork! That is so rich. I must remember to congratulate her._ Harry released himself with a wave of his hand, rotating in the air so that he didn't end up falling on his head. The embarrassment might have been enough to make him actually decide to resign. _Maybe that is why Dumbledore became Headmaster. He fell from the ceiling and hit his head. It is the only plausible explanation._

Cheerfully waving at the spectators, Harry walked downstairs and out of the Ministry, a bounce in his step. He apparated directly into McGonagall's office, despite the anti-apparition wards laid all about Hogwarts. Harry was powerful enough (and Hogwarts liked him enough) that he could go about unhindered in Hogwarts, "My paperwork please?" The amusement was evident in his voice and eyes. McGonagall grinned at Harry, a light bouncing around in her eyes. She enjoyed playing pranks on Harry, who was becoming more like Dumbledore everyday, including his penchant for mischievousness.

"Why, Minister, I used to have them but the running horses came and confiscated them from me, moving them to a more secure location." McGonagall bit her lip to keep from laughing at the perplexed look that crossed Harry's face. She let out a growl as he levitated himself to her ceiling, "Minister, I do conduct business in my office, it would be nice if you left."

"McGonagall, you are the last one seen with my paperwork, therefore I am going to use your office as a focal point to attempt the figuring out of this blasted clue!" Harry had rotated upside, words appearing in the air harshly. Sighing, McGonagall just turned back to her own paperwork. She felt pity for the few students who came to see her and had to see their Minister hanging upside down like a bat. One poor student had the unfortunate luck to be there when Harry solved the clue,

"Ah-Ha! That's it! That is where she has hidden them! I WILL CATCH THEM!" Harry bounded down from the ceiling quickly, disappearing before his feet hit the floor. Trembling, the student turned and fled from McGonagall's office, running to Professor Sprout instead.

Harry went over to Firenze, who was still the Divination Professor. "Professor!" Firenze nodded at Harry, acknowledging his presence, "My paperwork please!" Harry said, in a deceptively cheerful tone. Firenze pointed at the stack of work sitting in the corner. Harry smiled and went over to it. He picked it up, sighing. "Thank you!" He apparated back to his office, sitting down at his desk with the work. He jumped, noticing that Luna was in the corner,

"Good job Minister. Will you behave next time?"

"Potentially. I have already warned Arthur. He has one more chance."

"You are most generous. I would not have given him another chance. His refusal to make sure that they are training better and more often is crippling the Ministry."

"Then it is a good thing that we have the DA as back up for any potential emergencies." Harry gave Luna a significant glance as he spoke.

"Yes, it is fortuitous for us to have this resource. However, the others are dependant upon it, so it is crippling in itself."

Harry nodded in agreement. "That it is. That it is." They sat in silence. Harry read through the papers that he had to sign. One of the reasons the paperwork backed up was because Harry refused to sign something unless if he had read it. Periodically, he recruited Hermione to help him in the reading of his paperwork. He trusted her to sort the papers into categories of sign, don't sign, revise and then sign, and take back to the department that issued the paper in question hitting them over the head with it. Harry liked it whenever a paper was in pile four. He liked going over and pretending to be a very angry Minister. People liked to keep him pleased. It was very advantageous, used primarily for his own ends of course.

The silence started to get to Harry. The only thing of interest that came to his mind was his project with Hermione, "Luna, would you like to assist Hermione and I with something at the Snape estate?" Luna looked at him, her eyes showing her curiosity,

"What at the Snape estate would have you interested in it, Harry? You knew most of what Snape was working on. That means it must be something he didn't tell anyone! What could that be, I wonder. I suppose the only way to find out would be to go with you and see whatever this is." Luna gazed at Harry, monitoring his reaction to what she had said. Calculating his reactions to her words led Luna to believe that Harry was working on something secret. Just knowing that piqued her curiosity.

"Secrecy is of course expected." Harry knew that Luna would expect that to be the case, but he always said these things, to be on the safe side. If a person agreed to come after he spoke that, they were honor bound to not say a word or bad luck befell the person. An alarm rang at Harry's desk, "But, I must be off for the day! Time flies when a person is having so much fun!" Harry walked out of his office, grabbing the few things that he brought in with him each day, heading to the door.

The second he was firmly outside, he apparated to the Snape household. Harry grimaced, seeing that Malfoy was there, but his feelings quickly turned to fear when he heard Hermione screaming.

**AN**: So this is the third installment of Before Our Time. I hope you enjoyed reading the chapter and show your pleasure by reviewing!


	4. Bananas in Pajamas

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

Author's Note: Sorry for the lateness of this chapter! Exams started and my beta got behind! She does apologize though! Look below!

**Editor's note from Erkith:** I'm really sorry, I take all the blame. I forgot Fire Ice had given this chapter to me in the stress of exams. Totally my fault! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Great chapter though, do enjoy!

_**Erkith**_

Harry pulled Malfoy up the stairs with him, despite protest, "What did you do!?" Harry shouted out him, starting to get angry at Malfoy's lack of response. Everyone knew that you didn't let Harry get fully angry. Harry was scary when he was angry.

"I did nothing." Draco said as they turned the corner. Hermione was sprawled on the floor, staring eyes open at the ceiling. "Well… ok, I guess I should have told her to not stare into the sphere as well." Draco looked at Harry, flinching back from his stare,

"Malfoy, I do not need to remind you that you are in my debt. I suggest you fix this problem, or you might see your debt raising at least triple the amount you started with." Harry's voice had leveled to a seriousness that it hadn't reached in a long time. Draco heard that tone in his voice and looked at him, concerned,

"Harry, I'm sorry. I didn't know that this would happen. I knew that touching it would be dangerous because Snape had warned me of touching them. It's a fairly old protection spell, blood oriented." Draco rambled, trying to tell Harry everything that might be useful. His silver eyes flicked across Harry's face, taking in everything.

Harry swore. He could tell by staring at Draco that Draco was telling the truth. Harry knelt next to Hermione. "_Legilimins,"_ Harry whispered, pushing his way into Hermione's mind. Slowly, Harry slipped deeper into Hermione's subconscious, trying to find out what had grabbed her mind. A brief touch let Harry know that Draco was in Hermione's brain as well. It was tricky work having two people in someone's brain. However, Harry and Draco had done this type of work before during the war, extracting knowledge from captured Death Eaters or even Order Members.

_Harry, look at this. _Draco pulled up Hermione's memories of what she saw in the sphere. Draco growled as Harry jerked back. _Don't do that! You know better!_ Draco felt better as Harry apologized for his actions. Any sudden movement while deep inside another person's head could potentially lead to brain damage. A few Death Eaters had been lost that way. Thankfully, Draco had never killed any Order members while extracting information. He was about to say that Harry should remove a favor when he felt Harry push him out. Draco shook his head, but did not attempt to reenter Granger's mind. Draco watched all the muscles tense in Harry's body. He hoped Harry made it out okay.

Harry tried calling to Hermione. He'd pushed Draco out because Harry couldn't stand the thought of Malfoy seeing some of Hermione's most precious memories, which was highly probable, given that her shields were down. Harry saw a line tying Hermione to the loop that was playing in the sphere. Staying outside of the line, Harry watched the images that flickered about Hermione's mental eye.

Realization struck Harry like a lightening bolt. This sphere was not a security measure but a memory globe. If the person who looked into it was not the creator, they would get stuck in a loop of memories from the sphere as well as their own memories. Harry had talked with Snape about them in theory one evening over firewhiskey. Harry had been of the opinion that they were better than a Pensieve, more secure. Snape, by the end of the evening, had concurred. Harry was beginning to realize that Snape had played him. There was no way that Snape had created these globes after their conversation. There would have been no time. Harry sighed. He pulled out of Hermione's head.

"I know how to break her out of the spell." Harry told Draco as soon as awareness had returned to him. Harry replicated the sphere, placing it out of harms way. With what seemed to be practiced ease, Harry flicked his wand about, no words coming from his mouth. A silvery green hazelazily weaved its way out of his wand and towards Hermione. Slowly, the strand wrapped around the area where the original sphere was connected to Hermione.

"What are you doing Harry? It's wrapping itself around her head! That will smother her!" Draco was baffled by Harry's actions. Whereas he had no particular love for Granger, he knew that she meant quite a bit to Harry. Therefore, as he watched the spell wrap itself around her, cutting off airflow, he was more than slightly concerned as to why Harry was still using the spell.

Harry raised an eyebrow at Draco. Harry was smirking in a way that was uncharacteristic for him. It was moments like this that had Draco believing that Harry used spells on himself, or drugs, to make himself act so calm. "I know what I am doing, Malfoy."

The use of his surname made Draco realize that Harry was not doing his 'I'm a powerless, helpless, fun-loving' Minister impression, but acting like the Boy-Who-Lived-and-Conquered-All. Draco knew that Harry was a very powerful wizard. Harry would have had to be very powerful to beat the Dark Lord! It did not change the fact that because of how he acted, people perceived Harry as being powerless and lucky.

Draco turned his gaze back to Hermione. It had taken a lot to tear his gaze away from the intensity in Harry's expression. He was shocked when he discovered that Hermione's face was clear of any spell and that she was merely unconscious now. Draco went over to her, testing her mind with a simple Legilimins spell, getting a bigger shock when he discovered that all of her defenses were back up.

"Pick her up Draco. We are moving elsewhere to talk." Harry's voice brooked no argument. Draco scooped Hermione carefully into his arms, following the Minister to an empty room. He opened his mouth to comment when a hidden door appeared. Draco wondered how Harry knew that the door was there, but a glance from Harry stilled any comments Draco could have made. Draco wondered if Harry knew how scary he looked when he shed his Dumbledore façade. Thinking on it for a minute, Draco realized that Harry had to realize what he looked like on some level because Harry did hide behind the Dumbledore façade.

Draco followed Harry down the winding staircase, being extra careful. It was safe to assume that, if he fell and hurt Granger in the process, Harry would be more than a little upset at Draco. Draco was all about the self-preservation. He did have his own beliefs that he would not change on, but some things, Draco was more than willing to change his mind about if it meant that he could go on living. Many people labeled him as a turncoat because of that; however, Harry understood why Draco was like that.

"Set her over there. She'll wake up uncomfortable and confused, but I needed a private place to talk with you."

"About what, Harry?" Draco asked, alarmed. "I truly did not know what would happen with those spheres! I just remembered the warning Severus gave me! I passed it on to her. Had I known it would have damaged her, I would have told her to leave that area and go back to the library or some place – any place – other than there! I swear it Harry!" Draco knew that he was pleading, but when you owed over a billion favors to one man, a person tended to plead a little bit more than normal with that person. Draco was very confused when Harry started laughing at him. His eyebrows furrowed in confusion, trying to figure out what could have been so funny to Harry.

"Draco, you never cease to be hilarious. Sometimes, you should just wait to find out what someone wishes to discuss with you. Though, then you wouldn't demean yourself quite as often," Harry mused, "Never mind, go ahead and jump to conclusions all you want."

Draco growled at Harry, realizing that he wasn't going to be punished for what happened to Hermione, "What do you need Potter?"

"I'm calling in a favor. You are to assist Hermione in the brewing of a highly dangerous and very illegal potion. This will of course be unsanctioned by the government; however, keep anybody from finding out and I will say nothing. If you two are seen by the Aurors, I will say that you were coercing Hermione into working on the potion and throw your ass in jail. Incentive enough to stay out of sight?"

"What the hell, Potter! That is not fair! This should count as multiple favors! Not only are you forcing me to assist someone; I also have to keep it hidden from the Aurors. Actually, not just the Aurors, but the whole of the Ministry! This should could for at least five favors, if not ten!"

"Are you refusing to return a favor?" Harry phrased the question innocently enough, but Draco knew that he had to be careful in how he answered. If he answered with enough of a negative in there, then Harry would accuse him of refusing to fulfill his duty. However, if Draco managed to get too much of a positive in there, then he couldn't get more favors knocked off. There were times that Draco hated how cunning Potter had become. There used to be a time that Potter would not have picked up small nuances, but that was not the case anymore.

"I just think that, with all the stipulations involved in this favor, it should be worth more favors." Draco said, hoping that that was innocent sounding enough that he could negotiate more. Looking at Harry, Draco noticed the smirk. He swore internally, realizing that he hadn't phrased it quite innocently enough.

"Well, I don't; however, you made the right decision in not refusing to complete this favor." Draco could tell that Harry was having a lot of fun because of the laughter that was apparent as he spoke. Draco had to fight to keep from scowling at the Minister. Some days Potter was more infuriating than others in his little word traps.

"Bloody hell, Potter. You set me up perfectly. But fine, I'll help. What am I helping with?" Draco accepted the parchments that Harry shoved at Draco. He scanned the recipe of the potion, his eyes widening as his brain put together what it did. "Harry! There is a reason a potion like this is illegal! If something goes wrong, it could be catastrophic!"

Harry grinned at Draco, "Of course, but that is the fun!" Draco shook his head, praying that someone would talk some sense into the Minister at some point.

The rest of the day had gone by quickly after the Minister left. Luna swore that he was the most distracting man of all time, or at least that he did his best impression of it. She flicked her eyes around her office one last time, smiling at the random post it notes all over the place. The night shift would come in and grab their assignments from those post its. She smiled, turning off her lights, heading to the lifts. She smiled at Arthur Weasley.

"Luna, pleasure. On your way home?" Arthur asked politely.

"The little red light was a go," Luna replied. She was not heading home, but rather going to Snape's house, curiosity winning out about what Harry was up to. She looked around the lift, never looking Arthur directly in the eye. She could feel his confusion at her words though. A smile graced her lips as she thought of all the crazy things she had said over the years.

"Tell Harry I know he's doing something illegal. If I catch him at it, there will be severe consequences." Arthur looked at Luna seriously, trying to convey his seriousness with the situation. All he could tell by looking at her was that she was doing her insane impression. Arthur shook his head, closing his eyes for a minute. When he opened them, Luna had disappeared. Arthur groaned in frustration, heading home himself.

"Little kitty cat! Where are you? I know you are here!" Luna called, walking around the Snape estate. Luna saw a skull. She picked it up, looking at it. "Well, this is easily an alien pod." She set it back down, continuing to call for Harry.

Five minutes passed with her walking around before Harry even heard her. He brought her down into the secret room, where the brewing had commenced. "Welcome, Luna, to the wonderful illegal brewing of a time potion." Luna gave a big grin, looking at the potion,

"When will it be ready for testing?" Luna asked, her eyes alight in anticipation of the brewing.

"There is no set time limit," Hermione said. "The only instructions are based off of the colors of the potion. We have to be really attentive. Would it be possible to take shifts to watch over it? Draco and I can watch it during the day. You and Harry can watch it in the evening. It will be the best way to make sure that everything goes as smoothly as possible."

"We should have an hour where we watch it together at least, or at least where there is a little overlap to make sure we are good for our shift." Harry mused to himself, rambling a little. It seemed to be the Luna effect. Whenever she was around, Harry's thoughts scattered, and he had to gather them back up, like he was raking them in.

Hermione looked at Malfoy with a raised eyebrow, "How did he get elected again?"

"No clue, but he would make a great Headmaster." Draco whispered to Granger, knowing how much Harry hated the thought of becoming Headmaster. Harry had never explained why, but after he reached a certain power level, he claimed that Hogwarts drove him insane.

Hermione grinned at Malfoy, "Once we are done with this insanity, we are going to make Harry Headmaster of Hogwarts. It is where he should be."

Draco nodded, thinking of all the favors he could say that he had fulfilled.

Harry looked over at Hermione and Draco whispering, "What are you two plotting?"

"Nothing, Harry. Don't worry. Now, did you bring the ingredients so that we can start?" Harry nodded, handing over the bag of ingredients to Hermione,

"Where did you get these?" Draco asked, looking at the rare, almost illegal potion ingredients that were being taken out of the bag. Harry smirked a little at Draco, with a look that told Draco he would never know. "Never mind then, let's get the ingredients all prepared, so that all we have to do is actually add them later. It will be more efficient and less likely that we'll screw up."

Hermione looked at the ingredients list separating some items, "Those have to be prepared right before they go in, but all of these could be prepared now if necessary." Draco nodded. He took some of the carrots, peeling them like the instructions said, and then he dicing them into very small cubes.

Hermione had taken the Valerian roots and the fluxweed leaves to crush into a combined powder.

Harry and Luna had taken the oranges, bananas, and pineapple. Harry was squeezing the oranges and pineapple to get the juice out of them while Luna mashed the bananas. After they had completed that they had to mix it together so that the banana absorbed the juice. In all it was going to be a completely nasty potion. However, if the potion worked, it would be well worth the nasty taste that it was bound to have.

"Bananas? In Pajamas? In a potion? Who would have ever thought that it would have any magical properties. They do taste good. Remind people of certain actions. Act as an icebreaker. Taste good in alcohol. Taste good in general. But a potion?" Luna muttered. Harry grinned, looking at Draco and Hermione.

"Actually, the banana will act as an absorption for a lot of the magical properties of the other ingredients. Most people do not realize that so they assume anyone using banana in a potion is a bit daft. However, Snape used to use banana in the dreamless sleep potions he made Harry all the time. It allowed them to be more powerful and therefore more effective against Harry's nightmares and visions."

"Really?" Harry said, surprised, "I never knew that. I mean, I noticed that he had a lot more bananas around, but I assumed that he had decided that bananas were a good source of potassium."

Hermione shook her head at the ridiculousness of Harry's statement. She was amazed at how daft Harry could be, despite his intelligence and power. Sometimes, Hermione figured that Harry had selective intelligence. However, numerous professionals, as well as books, had reassured Hermione that it was not possible to be selectively intelligent.

Draco stayed facing his carrots, using all of his self control to not start laughing at what everyone was saying. They were talking about bananas! Of all things! Draco just shook his head slightly, hoping that time would pass quickly before their insanity infected him.

Hermione pushed her hair off of her sweaty brow. This potion produced so much heat. She hoped Draco came back down soon. She was starting to feel dizzy. Hermione blinked, "Draco…?" Hermione called, stumbling back, "Harry?" Hermione called her mind slowly unraveling. Hermione fell forward, her body never hitting the floor.

Harry had just arrived, ready for his shift, "Draco, what are you doing up here?"

"Coffee break. Really tired." Draco mumbled, sipping his coffee, his head in hands. Harry shook his head, sitting next to Draco, putting his head down. It was obvious that Harry was tired as well. All of them were pulling double duty. Harry and Luna were being especially tasked being the Heads of their appropriate sections. Luna was attempting to organize another fake raid of the Ministry while Harry was also attempting to come up with a way to sneak out during the next fake raid. Harry had overheard Arthur's plans on how to get to his office quickly. Since Harry wanted to be able to fight alongside the Aurors, Harry was going to make damn sure that he was nowhere near the Ministry after the raid started. He was also contemplating being some place that would make himself be captured.

Harry poked Draco, "Coffee is good." Draco shoved a cup over to him. Harry grinned. He was just about to take a sip when he heard Hermione's call. Despite how tired he was, he moved as fast as he could to the lab. The coffee cup shattered on the floor, pulling Draco from his stupor, rousing him into action.

Harry arrived right after Hermione had gone, "Hermione! Hermi-" Harry had run over to the potion screaming. He blinked confused as he appeared in a meadow. He looked around, baffled as to where he was located. Shifting his gaze, Harry located Hermione a little ways away. He moved over to her, sitting her up. "Hermione?" Harry whispered, shifting her hair from her face. Hermione's face contorted as she woke up,

"Harry?" Hermione sat up, still slightly confused. She noticed the grass, looking at it with a look of surprise and confusion on her face, "Why am I sitting on grass? Where's the Snape estate? Where are we?" Hermione said, noticing that they were in an empty meadow.

"Well, by my rather amazing deductive skills, I would say that we are in a meadow." Harry said, grinning as Hermione swatted him for impertinence.

"Really, Sherlock? I do not think I would ever have figured that one out. How did we end up here?" Hermione was talking more to herself as she gathered her wits, so she was rather frustrated as Harry responded.

"I would figure that the potion probably worked on transporting us. The question becomes, did we go forward in time or back in time? And how far?" Harry asked, giving her a response. Harry stood up, wanting a better view. "Hm…I'm going to see if I can figure out where we are."

"Harry Potter! Don't you dare!" Hermione said, rather loudly, as Harry transformed into his Animagus form, flying up high, to get the bird's eye view of the surrounding area. Harry surveyed the land, not seeing anything but forested land and meadow for a ways. Harry looked down at Hermione, debating on flying a little bit to see if he could see anything. In the end, Harry opted to go a little distance, in the hopes of discovering where they were.

The wind soared, floating around the wings of the magnificent fiery red bird streaking across the sky. No one was around to witness the flight of the bird. The aero-acrobatics was with a fluid ease that made it seem like the wind was water. In blink of an eye, the bird was zipping across the sky, back the way that it had come from. Spotting Hermione on the ground, the bird seemed to dive-bomb her. About seven feet above the ground, the bird flipped, turning back into Harry Potter.

"Harry Potter!" Hermione spat out, through clenched teeth, "Don't you ever do that again! If you ever run off in unfamiliar territory, leaving me alone, I will turn you into the item most amusing to me at the time! Do you understand!?"

Harry grinned at Hermione, "Why, Hermione, are you threatening a Minister of Magic?" Hermione just glared at Harry, who laughed more, sitting down, "Well, you don't get to hear about what I figured out."

Hermione flopped back on the ground, placing her head in his lap, staring out in the distance, "How are we ever going to get back to where we belong?"

Draco stumbled into the potions room. His eyes narrowed, immediately taking in the fact that both Granger and Potter were missing. He took a deep breath, coughing as soon as the smoke hit his lungs. He fell to his knees, coughing. He turned to thank whomever had started patting his back, seeing Harry, "HARRY!?" Draco noticed that he was no longer in a closed, dark potions room.

"Well, if I had to wager a guess, I'd think that Malfoy discovered he isn't in Kansas anymore." Hermione spoke softly, looking at Harry with raised eyebrows. Harry just grinned in response.

"Well, knowing our luck, Luna will arrive shortly. Then where will we be?" Harry said, shaking his head,

"Stuck in the past," Hermione said, answering truthfully. Harry sighed, turning his gaze back to the setting sun, hoping they could find a way back home.


	5. A Meadow, a Forest, and a Lake

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Harry Potter stories or characters.

AN: All right folks. The wait for this chapter was my fault. I got stuck mid chapter with what I was going to do. To make it up, I have written an extra long chapter. I am working on chapter six. It should be ready to go to the betas any day now. Enjoy this chapter though.

Harry beheld the night sky in all its glory. Hermione and Draco had questioned Harry's belief that they had landed in the past. Harry didn't know how to explain to his friends how he perceived their time had yet to pass. The smell in the air was different, but in a fresher, less polluted way. The sky was clearer than Harry could ever remember the night sky being during their time. He turned his head, gazing at his friends. "Hermione, Draco, Luna, we should-" Harry paused, realizing that he had said a third name. He looked at the third person, "LUNA!" Harry groaned, resting his head in his hands.

"We're stuck! And it's your fault, Potter!" Draco growled, glaring at Luna. Luna just looked at him, a faintly amused grin on her face.

"The dark colors turned into happier colors." Luna sat down next to Harry, looking around, "Very pretty." She smiled, "And it works."

Harry hugged Luna, "I think that life would be very dull if it weren't for you, my wonderfully loony Luna." Luna grinned at him,

"Life would be very dull without my kitty." Harry grinned; his eyes alight with mischief. Luna smiled back at him, ignoring the other two, who were very frustrated at her comments. Hermione swore that Luna made those comments just to get on people's nerves.

"Harry, we should really consider finding actual shelter. Or at least something more constructive, such as finding out what time period we are in and where we are." Hermione was worried about them being forever lost. It was obvious that they wouldn't be falling back through time from the potion they had kept going. There was also no possible way for them to appear in the exact same moment they left. So, if they ever ended up back in their time, they could potentially create a huge paradox and end up destroying themselves. Time was too vast for probability to allow the possibility that they could land exactly where they left. From the ingredients and how the potion worked this time, the potion would probably pluck them out of time here, sending them to another random event elsewhere in history, unless if the potion was refined.

"Well, I think that we should find out how Luna got here. It might give us a clue as to how the potion works. Also, we should record how much we remember of the potion. It could be the key to heading back home." Harry was taking charge. Draco watched Harry as he looked around the meadow. The expression in his eyes grew darker as he watched nothing. Draco knew better than to assume that Harry was looking at nothing. Harry always soaked everything in.

Hermione glared at Harry. Normally on decisions relating to anything academic or fixing a magical problem, Harry deferred to Hermione's opinions as to what they should do. Lately, after receiving the Minister of Magic position, Harry was listening to her less and less. It was amazing how much he had changed since the war.

"Well, I wandered downstairs. Then I was here. Nothing special." Luna looked at Harry oddly. Clearly, Luna thought that Harry was a bit of a dunce for wondering how Luna had gotten here. Draco noticed that Harry's brow furrowed at how Luna described herself as joining them at their present location.

"Hermione, would you kindly write down what you remember of the potion?" Harry asked Hermione. His tone of voice told Hermione that saying no would be a poor decision on her part. Harry did not have the patience to be goofing off at the moment. Despite the Ministry's assumed stability, the truth of the matter was that the government was still recovering from the Voldemort incident and the aftermath. There were quite a few people who viewed the clean up as a colossal mistake on the part of the Ministry. The same factions believed that Harry should be deposed as the Minister. However, they had yet to be successful in convincing the Wizemgot to call a vote of no confidence. Most people strongly felt that Harry had handled the situation that best that he could have considering the circumstances.

Hermione sighed. She was going to have to refuse Harry for a very simple reason, "I would Harry, but I have no paper. Why don't we go scouting around? See if we recognize anything. We are bound to recognize something."

Harry nodded. He started walking, his stride indicating that he was perturbed about something. Hermione shook her head, moving to go talk with him, but Draco stopped her. Hermione glared at him because Draco had made no move to stop Luna. Hermione knew that Harry was upset about her being unable to complete is request.

"Harry is best to leave alone when he is angry. Well, at least, logical thoughts are best kept away from him. He's likely to not understand Luna, so he won't be as upset listening to her," Draco rambled off at the end there. Hermione stared at him like he was insane. Draco stopped and blinked at her. He noticed that he was holding her arm, dropping it like it was a hot potato. "We should catch up with them." Draco mumbled that last bit, heading off.

Hermione blinked after Malfoy, wondering how he had become so knowledgeable about Harry. She was missing some piece about their relationship, and she could not figure it out. She had been working on it since the end of the war. There were no hints from either of the two men's actions. Draco had had numerous indiscretions with various females within the Ministry and at her University, so she knew that Malfoy was not gay. However, Hermione could not see Malfoy as owing Harry that much in the way of favors. She sighed and caught up with them.

A clump of trees was close to them after they had been walking for twenty minutes. The trees had a familiar feel to them. Hermione turned and looked back. She could have sworn that if there were a castle right where they had been laying that it would have been Hogwarts. She ran to catch up to the others.

Luna looked at Harry, "We need to hide who we are. We need to be hidden. Hidden is good for those in the past. Hidden doesn't matter for the future. It shouldn't anyway. Why should it? Hiding is silly for the future. People do not know you in the future. You are the stuff of legends. People would be excited to meet legends. Hope this isn't the future. It would be awkward. 'Yes, ma'am, we traveled this many years in the future. How? Oh well, it was an accident really. Silly of us don't you think?' Of course, we might be able to find a way back if it was the future. Higher probability that the parchment still exists because it would be after our-"

"Just shut up!" Harry glared at Luna, "Do you ever think that maybe some people do not like listening to the ramblings of someone with a few screws loose in their head when they are trying to think? I need to have quiet!" Harry continued walking for a ways until he heard grumbles from Draco. He stopped to turn around and see what was wrong, when he noticed Luna was not next to him anymore. Harry spun about, seeing Luna back with Hermione and Draco. The icy glare that Luna sent his way reminded Harry of why Luna pretended to be loony.

Harry walked back to Luna, Draco and Hermione, refusing to wince when Draco glared at him. "What is wrong with you?" Draco shouted, "You got Luna pis-"

"HOGWARTS!" Hermione burst in on Draco talking, looking around excited. "Hogwarts! Everything fits! I'm blind! Hogwarts a History! Merlin's beard, how could I not see this!?"

Draco stopped what he was saying, to stare at Hermione dumbfounded. Draco tilted his head, staring at Hermione in confusion. He turned his gaze on Luna for a bit, words forming on his lips, but not managing to find a way into the air for public consumption. Draco kept changing his gaze back and forth between Luna and Hermione, trying to figure out what had just happened to switch them. Draco was grateful when Harry said what was on Draco's mind.

"What happened to the smart, funny Hermione? Who replaced her with this crazy, scary Hermione?" Harry looked at Luna when he spoke, hoping to coax her out of being angry with him. He really did not want Luna angry with him.

"Can't you guys see it? This is Hogwarts!"

"No, Granger," Draco started, pointing his fingers at locations as he spoke, "This is a meadow. That, right over there, is a forest. On our opposite side is a big lake." Draco had trailed off on the last sentence, realizing that all three major characteristics of Hogwarts were present. The meadow was a hilly meadow, so it was possible that the uneven terrain could at some point have a castle placed on it. The forest, upon closer inspection, did indeed have the same creepy feeling that the Forbidden Forest had had. With the addition of the lake, the probability that this was indeed the Hogwarts grounds had grown exponentially.

"Yes, Malfoy, I did happen to notice that there was a meadow, a forest, and a lake. All of which do happen to be present on the Hogwarts grounds that we went to school on. However, on top of the meadow, there rested a really gorgeous castle that was home to four houses of students, so therefore the castle was quite large and was quite extensive in the amount of ground needed. If I had to estimate, I would probably guess that the size of this meadow was needed to build said castle." Hermione released a little of her frustration on Draco because she really did not want to make Harry angrier with her, however being mocked for pointing out a logical assumption based on geography was not her idea of a grand time.

Harry, while the two had their little spat, looked around, nodded his head at Hermione's assessment. "We should walk in the general direction of Hogsmeade and see if there is a village there." Harry looked at Draco and Hermione, waiting to see if they disagreed. There was a deep-seated frustration in Harry about people not listening to his suggestions. During the war, people thought him daft for believing that using a love based Killing Curse would be the demise of the Dark Lord. Even Hermione had believed that Harry had lost his marbles when he made his suggestion. The only person that was alive who believed him had been Luna.

Hermione bit her tongue to keep from snapping at Harry. She knew that he was just frustrated about not being in his own time. On top of that, no one had believed him that they were in the past until just now. Hermione knew that sometimes Harry could not explain how he knew something. She was not even sure that the depths of Harry's magic had ever fully been tapped. Hermione was not saying that Harry was the most powerful wizard to have ever walked the earth. By all accounts, the wizard who claimed that title had been Godric Gryffindor. That one man, according to all the old texts she had read, had been the stuff of legends. Some accounts had said that he was slightly off his rocker, however, he had placed most of the enchantments placed on Hogwarts.

All rumors pointed to Ravenclaw being just as intelligent as Gryffindor, but that she had lacked in the power to actually use some of the spells that she created with Gryffindor. Hermione was fascinated by the life of Ravenclaw. Hermione looked around the meadow thoughtfully. Being in the past, especially this far, would give her the opportunity to speak with Ravenclaw. The amount of information she could have when they went back home would be useful.

Hermione noticed that Luna had already started walking. Without speaking to Harry, Hermione started walking at a rather fast pace to catch up with Luna. She felt Malfoy move to follow her. She figured if Harry had to live with some icy silence for a few hours that maybe he would think before getting angry with people for simply suggesting that he was wrong. Hermione had just as many reasons to believe that they were not in the past but instead the future. She did understand that he sometimes could not explain things, but it gave him no right to yell at anyone.

Harry sighed, watching as his friends and indebted former enemy walked away. Harry caught up with all of them as the rounded a bend that led into a rather prosperous town.

"Oh my!" "Look!" "There are foreigners!" and other whispers ran rampant amongst the villagers. Harry looked at the others, wondering what to say or do. He knew that the others were not pleased with him. Using his brain, he decided that he did not want to speak up and have the others get mad at him. Harry looked over and noticed that Luna was walking towards one of the villagers.

"I'm sorry, ma'am. We are poor, lost travelers. Would you be so kind as to tell us as to where we are currently at?" Luna had asked a little old woman.

"Why, you are in the town of Hoagslend. To not know where you are, you must have traveled very far, little one. Tell me, what are your names?"

Luna smiled at the lady. She had a small suspicion that the Founders did not exist. Luna had never felt the need to tell others of the research she had done regarding the founders. She had also never told anyone that Dumbledore had hinted that the founders had come from the future, "Pray tell, lady, have you ever heard of the Lady Hufflepuff?"

Confusion flitted across the old woman's face at hearing such an odd name, "I'm sorry. That isn't a familiar name. I do not mean to offend you, m'lady."

Luna was doing a mental dance at the old woman's answer. She knew that Harry, Hermione, and Draco would probably be very vexed at her actions. However, she could not bring it upon herself to care. "Do not worry. I was afraid that you might say that. My fellow companions and I have been away for quite some time. Is the name just unfamiliar to you or do you know of anyone who might have heard it? Or does Gryffindor ring a bell?"

"I'm sorry, m'lady. Those names are unfamiliar to all of us. You could ask James about whether he has heard the names in other villages. I am confused as to why you wish to know."

Luna looked at the man the woman pointed to. She smiled, "Thank you. Your help is very appreciated." Luna walked over to the young man, asking him the same question. The man shook his head. By the time Luna had asked about the other Founders, Harry, Hermione and Draco had all wondered over. After they were a safe distance from the man, they all started telling her why what she did was wrong.

Luna gave all three of them icy glares, "First off, I asked if they had heard of them. If they had heard of them, they would have assumed I was inquiring as to their whereabouts. Second, this is clearing the time that Hogwarts is founded. Yet, no one has heard of four great, powerful wizards? How likely is that, do you suppose? Hermione, you will assume Ravenclaw's name. Potter, you can be Slytherin," Luna saved the worst of her glares for Harry, "Draco, you can-"

Draco had been nodding his head as Luna spat at them, realizing that what she had said was true. However, he knew that she was going to say he had to be Gryffindor, and there was no way that Draco would stand for that, "Luna! I am not a bloody Gryffindor! I will never be a Gryffindor! I will assume the name Slytherin and that is it. I agree with what you've told us of your plan, but I will not be Gryffindor!"

Luna looked at Draco, deciding that it was rather unfair to make him be Gryffindor. She knew that Harry would be quite pleased with being placed as Godric Gryffindor though.

"This cannot be possible! The whole of our future cannot depend on the past!" Hermione whispered harshly. She knew that shouted to the whole world that they were definitely not of this area, or time period, was not the best of ideas. _Hell, we don't even know if this particular village is magical or not. It would be silly of us to assume they were and get killed for it._ Hermione looked around at the people in the village, seeing gazes of distrust, fascination, and amusement directed at them. "We need to find a place to sleep while we think of what we are going to do next."

"I thought it should be obvious," Harry said, looking only at Hermione. Hermione was amazed at the lack of emotion in Harry's voice as well as his face. He was constantly reminding her of all that he had given up during the Last Battle. She had known the spell that she had given him would do that to him, but it still fascinated her that he could easily regress back into that state when his friends even remotely made him feel like he was nothing. Granted, she knew that it would be rather intelligent of them to not cause Harry these emotions. He could go off the deep end and become the next Voldemort. "We need to have written down what we remember of the spell."

"Har-"

"Yes, I know you need parchment, Hermione. I will fix that problem for you. Go off with the others and find a place to sleep since that is what all of you want to do so badly. I'll join you later." Harry stalked off, walking over to some of the villagers, speaking with them. Hermione figured that he was bartering for parchment, either with labor or with his clothing. She headed off with Draco and Luna to find lodgings. Hermione focused inward, not noticing the glance that Luna gave Harry before following them.

Harry looked at the man the other villagers had pointed at. Harry assessed the man as best he could without using any magic, hoping that it was enough. Harry only wanted to resort to mind tricks if they were necessary, "Sir? I wondered if you could spare a tired traveler a few moments of your time. In exchange for answering a few questions, I would be willing to do some work in your field for you."

The old man looked at Harry, a little suspiciously. The man was sizing Harry up, making sure that Harry was genuine. The old man motioned for Harry to sit, "The name is Caelin, young man. You better refer to me by that name, or you'll get nothing from me. Sir makes me feel as old as I am, and I don't reckon that I want to feel that old."

"Yes, s-Caelin, of course. My name is Godric Gryffindor. You may have noticed my friends and I. We are strange amongst these parts. Don't reckon that we really know how we ended up here."

"You aren't a follower, are you?" Caelin looked at Harry suspiciously. The question took Harry by surprise. He wasn't sure if he was a follower or not. Harry racked his brain for everything that he ever learned in his History of Magic class. The answer came to him as he remembered the lecture that had actually fascinated him. Followers were considered to be those following the Christian Church. In the old times, magical people had been going to the side of the Christians and hiding what they were. Eventually, the concentration of magical people decreased as magic ended up being bred out. After the Founding of Hogwarts, an outbreak of new magical talent spread across the land. Some people say that the Founders had used very old magic to call up all old magical talent. Others argued that they had just had ways of finding the talent that already existed.

"No, I'm not. I'm one of you." Harry was surprised as Caelin thumped him on the shoulder.

"Good for you, young man. Good for you. We need more of you staying on our side. We're dying out. Can't find enough of you young folk to teach. Are all of you mages?"

"Yes, we are. We are looking for a new place to live. A place with others like us, but we need employment. Beyond our skills with magic, there is little we can do. Do you have any suggestions?"

Caelin grinned at Harry, "I sure do. I need some young folk in the house again. People to help out in the farm and with the cooking. If you work for me, I'll feed ya, put a roof over your heads, and I'll even talk with the tailor and see if I can't get ya some proper clothes. How does that sound?"

"It sounds wonderful. I am more than willing to accept the offer. I will have to talk with my fellow companions, but I am sure they would be most agreeable to the idea as well. Thank you, Caelin. Where can I meet you?"

"Meet me right here in a mark. After that, my offer is gone." Harry nodded at Caelin, looking around for Luna, Draco and Hermione. He found them outside of an inn, looking very upset.

"We can't get a room, Harry. That must make you real happy, since you weren't here to help us." Hermione snapped. She was frustrated. They were stuck in the past with no food or shelter.

"Well, I suppose it's a good thing then that I found us lodgings. We will be helping out an older man named Caelin in the farm and house. In return, he will provide us with clothing, lodging, and food. He gave us an exceptional offer."

Draco rolled his eyes at Harry, "And yet we have no way of knowing if he's a decent bloke or not! For all you know, this nice old man could be a serial killer! He could be wanting to murder any person who goes to his house!" Draco started pacing away from Harry, muttering about know-it alls that got them into trouble.

Luna rolled her eyes, "It's not a bad thought though, Draco. Merely not a well executed one on the part of our esteemed leader." Draco was rather amazed at the sarcasm and cynicism laced throughout Luna's comment about Harry. Prior to this fight, Draco would have sworn that it was impossible for Luna to get that upset at Harry. Know, it was very clear to anyone who walked near Luna that she was frightfully pissed off at Harry. If Harry kept messing things up the way that he was, it was going to be a really awkward few weeks, possibly months, for Hermione and himself.

Harry growled, unbelieving of the fact that they felt as though he could not accurately judge a person's character, "If he is a serial killer than he is awfully good at hiding it. Here's the parchment, Hermione. Maybe I will see you guys around, maybe I won't. I, however, am going to give Caelin a chance." Harry turned around, after handing Hermione the parchment and writing materials he had managed to get his hands on, stalking towards the road that Caelin was waiting for him at.

Turning her eyes towards the others, Hermione looked at them, not sure what to say. The parchment that Harry had gotten her was of good quality. She knew that there was no way Harry could have bought her parchment of this quality. "He bartered his pendant away. The one that Dumbledore left for him, that had been in the Potter family for generations. He wasn't wearing it a few minutes ago. He always wears it." Hermione murmured all of this outloud. They were her thoughts, but Harry had surprised her enough that she had spoken aloud.

Luna gazed at Hermione for a minute before looking at Harry, "He probably didn't. He probably bartered something else and hid his pendant. He would never give that silly item up."

"Yes, he would," Hermione whispered, "He was willing to give it up to buy the one item we didn't have for the potion to destroy Voldemort. It doesn't hold meaning besides being a link to his parents. I know that it's a powerful link, but he loves others more than a pendant to people he never knew. He's so deficient socially, I don't think he even realizes that how he says things hurts people. I think it just doesn't reach him. I can't stay mad at him. I'll take my chances. At least he's very powerful." Hermione took off, catching up to Harry. Draco and Luna watched as they hugged. Draco tensed, unsure as to why he was upset at what Hermione said.

Luna smiled knowingly, "The little dragon has a feeling. An indescribable feeling! So adorable!" She crooned, bouncing a little towards Harry, singing about Draco. Draco followed her and pushed Luna,

"Stop singing, you stupid, crazy woman! Just stop singing!" Draco jumped back, surprised as Harry punched him.

"Do not ever lay hands on her again! Do you understand?" Harry's emerald eyes glinted with extreme anger. Harry hissed in Draco's ear, barely restraining himself from punching Draco, "You go back to owing all your favors. All of them! Be thankful I don't add more."

Harry slammed his fist next to Draco's ear, turning and stalking away, ignoring the protests from the snivelling brat. Harry stayed in his mood all the way back to Caelin. Caelin took one look at Harry,

"So, who got your trousers in a twist? Actually, nevermind. I really do not want to know. Follow me. We'll be there shortly." Harry smiled at the old man's brusqueness, following him. The walk took them a good forty-five minutes to get to the house. Harry supposed that shortly had a different meaning in a time period where getting to a place fifty kilometers away took a day to reach.

By the time they had arrived, Harry was ready to talk with Luna. Watching her cautiously for any movements that might mean she was going to hex him into the next century, Harry walked over to Luna. He noticed that Luna was gazing at him, semi-curiously and a little wary.

Harry took a seat next to Luna, not saying a word. He worried that he might say the wrong thing to her, and make even worse a mess of what was already happening. Harry knew that he didn't want that. They were stuck in the past. They needed to be friends, not foes.

Hermione looked over at Harry and Luna from the table, where she was assisting Caelin with cooking dinner for the group. The tension was visible to anyone watching. She smiled, hoping that both of her friends made up. They were both more tolerable when they were friendly with each other than when they were fighting. Hermione turned her back on them, concentrating on cleaning the vegetables and chopping them. Caelin had made it apparent that despite the fact that there was plenty of magic that they did not use it excessively. It had not taken Hermione long to figure out that Caelin was a wizard. However, she did not know the reason behind the lack of magic in every day household chores. Spells like the ones Mrs. Weasley used were exceptionally useful.

"I'm sorry," Harry mumbled, "I didn't mean to snap at you. I was frustrated that we were so poorly supplied." Harry looked at the dirt on the floor, not wanting to look at Luna. He didn't dislike apologizing except when it was to his friends. There was something about apologizing to those that put up with every little quirk of yours that was daunting. Maybe it was because they would constantly be there for you.

Luna hugged Harry, putting her head on his shoulder, "It's okay. I ramble to my little cat too much at times. Sometimes, the cat needs silence, to absorb all that has happened, but I'm not good with silence. Maybe my cat can help me learn what silence is about?"

Harry looked up at Luna, smiling at her, "I'm sure the cat would be more than willing to assist his loony as long as his loony helped him not make an ass of himself?" Harry smiled as Luna playfully hit his shoulder. He yelped a bit as she pulled him up, dragging him to the door,

"We'll go get water!"

Caelin looked up from the pot, "Why not bring some firewood? We could eat dinner outside in the stars." Harry grinned at Caelin, nodding. He ran off with Luna, heading to the well and firepit. He carefully stacked wood into his arms, walking it to the firepit. When he got back, he noticed Luna struggling with pulling the water up from the well. He came up behind her, helping her to pull the water up.

Luna turned to look up at Harry, wondering why she had gotten mad at her cat. The gaze in his emerald eyes captivated her. His eyes always made her feel like she was the most important thing in the world.

Harry leaned down towards Luna, a smile tugging at his lips.


	6. Happy Monkeys

**Disclaimer: **I do not own, nor will I ever own, Harry Potter and its subsequent characters

**AN: **I would just like to apologize for the wait on this chapter. I started writing it like a madwoman, got ill, stopped writing, and had to kick myself to start writing it again. My beta had a really fast turn around time for this go around. As I said, so sorry! Thanks to everyone who left reviews last chapter! Review this time as well!

Harry's first thought was that Luna was not at all like Cho. Or Tonks. Or really any of the other girls that he had kissed. She was not at all a subordinate kisser. She gave as good as he gave, but at the same time it was not at all aggressive like Tonks had been. He was finding the kiss rather enjoyable.

A loud clamor caused both of them to jump apart. Harry shrugged, grinning ruefully at the fact that the water they had taken forever to pull up had fallen back down into the well. He started pulling the bucket back up, waiting for Luna to pull it off the hook, before tying the rope down. Harry picked out a few more pieces of wood to add to the stack, walking back with her.

Luna hid her face from Harry, blushing and pleased. She could not believe that she had kissed Harry Potter! Most girls would kill to have what she had just experienced. All she felt though was a vague sense of pleasure and lots of confusion. Luna had known that Harry had felt a love towards her. She had just always assumed it was more of a brotherly love. He had not shown a romantic interest in anyone for the longest time. Yes, he had played around, but playing around was different from love. She supposed that if she talked to Hermione, Luna would find that she had missed all these little signs that would indicate Harry had an interest in her. In fact, Luna was pretty sure that she could pick out a few of them in hindsight. Harry had just shocked her with his actions.

Carefully setting the water on the ground, Luna joined Draco and Hermione. Draco had gotten back from catching some more meat to add to their dinner. He had helped Caelin skin the food and was cooking it while Hermione added the vegetables.

"I am a little confused. These pots are obviously meant to simmer food for long amounts of time. How is this going to make the food prepared for us to eat?" Draco asked, more than a little confused. He did not see how this was going to work.

"I thought you said these buffoons were magical. Clearly they are not good magicians if they do not even know a good cooking spell. Watch and learn, young buck." Caelin gruffly spoke, moving to the pot. "Warm gekocht," Caelin muttered at the pot. The pot glowed blue. Heat rose from the pot for about a minute, before simmering down. Caelin pulled out some of the food, testing it. Apparantly he was satisfied with the taste because he started dishing out the food to everyone. "Let's go outside and you can show me your skill by starting the fire."

Harry's eyes glinted, "It would be my pleasure." He picked up his food, setting it down next to where Luna sat. He set the wood up in the best way possible for the fire. Without the use of any words or motions, Harry set the wood on fire, walking back to Luna. He heard Caelin's gasp of astonishment,

"You must be powerful, young man. That is some fine talent. We haven't seen talent like that, in centuries." Caelin spoke softly. Harry smiled at Caelin, flashing his most winning smile at the old man.

"Don't worry, I am something of a rarity myself, back home."

"Where is home for you folk? You do not dress like anything we have ever seen before. In fact, I do not think I know of any place that would have dress like that." Caelin looked at Harry and Luna, wanting someone to answer.

Luna looked at Caelin, "We are from very far away. We were experimenting with one of Godric's magical fantasies, when it decided that blowing up on us was a rather good idea. We feel as though it could have not blown up on us, yet we are still here." Caelin laughed at Luna's expression of obvious disgust at something magical not going her way.

Laughter and amusing antics filled the rest of the evening as all of them told stories about where they were from to Caelin. They kept everything vague, yet they still entertained the old man immensely. Harry found himself very pleased about that.

Months passed by in a blur. The routine of working on the farm was easily fallen into. Hermione and Draco tended to the fields while Harry and Luna worked inside the house. Hermione had refused to do housework because she was not going to do what was considered woman's work just to please a man. Harry was perfectly fine with doing inside housework. Harry sighed, relaxing against Luna since they were finished with the inside work. Luna got up,

"I am going to go wander. Be back." Luna left the house, wandering outside. Harry blinked from where he had been dumped on the floor. He was rather used to this happening. He stayed lying on the floor. He jumped as he got hit in the face with a pillow,

"This is all your fault Godric Gryffindor! You and your insatiable curiousity is what ended us in the wretched place! I've probably lost all hope of ever getting my doctorate because of your horrible experiment." Harry stood up and got away from Hermione. It was clear to Harry that Hermione was very upset, quite possibly cracking from the pressure of assuming another identity and not knowing whether they would ever end up at home.

"Hermione, just…let's think rationally." Harry said, trying to calm Hermione down. He dodged the pillow, running into Draco. He sighed in relief when Hermione turned her attentions on Draco,

"And you! You weren't with the potion! You left me! I must have missed a step! And now we are stuck in the horrible place! And you are constantly flirting with me, but then you go flirt with that dirty woman down at the pub in town!" Hermione screeched at Draco. Draco's eyes were wide as Hermione started pummeling him with the pillow. He held up his arms to try and protect himself. He was pretty sure that Hermione had managed to find another pillow because it felt like Hermione was hitting him too rapidly for it to be just one pillow. He opened his mouth to say something, but Hermione beat him to speaking, "You constantly rag on me in the field! I am just as good as you, chauvinist pig! I handled the potion all by myself when you were upstairs doing who knows what! Hell, if I had to guess, you were flirting with anything that walked on two legs!"

"Where did you get another pillow!?" Draco shouted, not at all concerned with what she had shouted at him. Draco, contrary to what Hermione believed, had been paying attention to her over the past few days. He had noticed that she was becoming withdrawn as well as more irritable. If he had to take a guess, he would say that it was that time of month for her. However, from the previous times of the month, Draco hadn't noticed any change in personality.

"She is using a spell! There are multiple pillows in the air hitting us! Thank god Luna is out!" Harry told Draco.

"Think again moron." Draco spat at Harry, noticing Luna. He was slightly curious to see how Hermione would yell at Luna considering Luna had not really had any part in what happened. She had ended up being pulled in like Hermione had been.

"And you!" Hermione shouted, "You just let yourself get pulled in! You talk insane babble without making any sense!"

"Who let the circus come to town?" Luna asked, tilting her head at Hermione. She gazed at her, baffled as to why Hermione was so upset at her when she had done nothing. She countered Hermione's pillow attack spell, looking at her oddly. Hermione continued screeching at Luna.

Harry went over to Hermione, "Rowena! I have a plan! I have a way for us to get back home! It won't be immediately, but I have an idea! Just, sit down. Let's talk." Harry had found it very easy to switch to using the assumed names. He tried to get Hermione to sit down. Luna looked at Harry oddly, not knowing that Harry had come up with a plan to get them back. Harry, Draco, and Luna knew that Hermione had written down what she remembered of the potion, but they hadn't seen the paper yet. Hermione refused to show them because she was working on developing something better.

"There is no way Godric! The potion is clearly missing something and I am not sure how we even found it! There is no way they could have come up with something this complex! That means I must have left something behind when I died and that time is going to degenerate into a puddle of nothingness!"

Harry grabbed Hermione's face, forcing her to look at him, "I have a plan Rowena. Let's build Hogwarts. The school clearly has to be built. There is no one here doing it. We are these people. Let us focus on building this school! It will help us have better resources. Better resources will aid your research! Please, Rowena, trust me on this!"

Hermione glared at Harry, not believing him. There were times that she had thought of resources via Hogwarts, but that would keep her here longer. She did not want to be in the past. Hermione wanted to be back home with everything she liked and normally had with her.

"It won't work! There is no way it can work! Somewhere out there the real people exist, Godric! For all we know this backwater town just happened to escape their notice until the imposters start building a school!" Hermione pushed Harry, her anger really starting to rise. There was some obvious stress build-up.

Harry grabbed Hermione's hand, holding them tight. He forced her to look at him as he spoke, "We have looked Rowena. I have gone on whole day trips flying to other towns to see what I could scrounge up. We are the Founders. They do not exist. Everything about how this is playing out corroborates with how little we knew about the Founders! You said it yourself; wizards this powerful would be noticed elsewhere. They would be noticed everywhere! There would be history on them! There is nothing like that in our time! Our presence in this time proves why. We need to build Hogwarts. She'll help us find the way back home. She'll provide the beacon," Harry was doing his hardest to convince Hermione.

Luna was blinking at Harry's switch into nonsense talk. She found it very funny as Hermione started agreeing with Harry, sitting down, slowly calming. Luna wondered if Harry had put thought into how they would actually build the school. They had no money. Obviously, they could use their various skills to actually build the school, but they could not buy the supplies necessary to use in the building process. On top of that, it was necessary to have the school be like it was in their time.

"Gryffindor!" Draco had rather enjoyed being able to call Harry Gryffindor because now there was a dual meaning to him shouting 'Bloody Gryffindor' at Harry. Draco found it doubly amusing. "We do not have supplies. We have no money to buy supplies with. How do you plan on building a school without these resources?"

"Magic." Harry left the room. He was done with his work, so he was heading to the Hogwarts meadow, planning on starting work today, with or without help. Luna recognized that.

"My kitty has no sense of how to build things. If we want a castle, not a bowl, we should stop him from leaving," Luna headed out after Harry, planning on preventing him from working on Hogwarts and totally ruining it. Draco looked at Hermione and then back after Harry. His entire mind could only see the Harry that practiced Dark Magic during the war to learn all possible ways to best Voldemort. The ways Harry had managed to butcher the spells were astounding.

"I'm sorry, Granger, I am going to have to follow them," Draco hurried off after Luna and Harry. He could only think about how he had to prevent them from screwing things up too badly. Draco started running through all the Dark Spells Harry knew and how to prevent them from doing anything dangerous.

Draco arrived at the meadow to see a foundation laid. He looked at Luna and Harry, confused as to what was going on. Luna was gaping at the foundation,

"Harry! The foundation is wrong! Hogwarts does not look like this! You leave no space for dungeons. We can't start building right now. We need to draw plans." Luna was very curt with Harry, very baffled that he would even contemplate the possibility of changing history.

"Aw! But my little monkey, I want to build it this way!"

"We need plans, Harry! We can't willy-nilly decide that Hogwarts is going to look like probably some crazily shaped circular building! Obviously Hogwarts does not look like some crazily shaped ciruclar building, so we cannot make it look that way! It would be wrong! We cannot meddle with time! Meddling with time means that we get stranded for forever because our time stops existing. It will unravel! Time can't unravel. If it unraveled this early in the time, we would cease to exist! Time could implode!"

"I think Luna's brains going to implode trying to wrap her mind around this problem!" Draco exclaimed, watching Harry walk around. If Draco took a guess, he would say that Harry was not listening to a word that Luna spoke. In fact, from the way Harry was bouncing from place to place, Draco knew that he wasn't listening to Luna. He turned, watching as Granger headed towards them. He saw the dismay cross her face as she took in the foundation that Harry had laid.

"HARRY JAMES POTTER! How dare you lay a foundation without creating a plan? You cannot just start building! You fool!" Hermione stormed over to Harry, poking his chest to emphasize her point. Harry grinned at Hermione,

"Well, I suppose this wouldn't count would it?" Harry grinned down at Hermione, sparing a quick glance at Luna. He held up a tattered piece of parchment, something that had obviously seen better days. Draco wondered what it could be, but Hermione recognized the parchment for what it was, revealed only by the sharp intake of breath.

"Harry!" Hermione said sharply, "You never let on that you had that with you! Why? It would have proven useful any number of times! We could have already started on building this bloody castle and setting time straight! We could have already been on our way home."

"Ah, but we couldn't have 'Mione. You know that. We have to stay here and try to complete everything that we know the Founders did. If we leave before that, we risk ruining time."

Luna rolled her eyes, "I have been trying to tell you that, but you aren't listening."

Harry grinned at Luna, "I was listening. I just chose not to heed your advice." Luna stuck her tongue out at Harry, "Now, now, little kitten, you should behave yourself!" Harry patted Luna on the head, like he would an adorable little kitten. Luna clenched her teeth to keep from growling at his impertinence. "Now, I do realize that we have to put the dungeons into the castle, I was just hoping you wouldn't notice. Oh well." Harry waved his hand in dismissal of the topic. Hermione shook her head, placing it into her hands. She could hardly believe that she had been stuck back in time with no hope of getting home (at least in her mind). The realization that she had been stuck in the past with two very loony people, one of them exceptionally powerful, was truly beginning to sink into her mind.

"Potter, I do believe that you infected Luna with looniness, not the other way around. It is the only explanation for this…!" Draco motioned at the foundation. Hermione looked at it. She had missed Harry changing it around, since she had placed her head in her hands. She blinked watching the stones dance to an unknown song. Hermione blinked, watching them fly about.

"But, Dray! It is the only way to have fun while building a building that is completely dull until the enchantments are placed on it!" Harry grinned at Draco. Hermione wondered if Harry was going to live through the day. She knew that had distinctly heard Harry called Malfoy a nickname. Not only was Hermione sure that that was suicide, she was sure that Malfoy would not hesitate to follow through on his threat.

Hermione was very surprised when all Malfoy did was growl and watch the stones more. She decided to speak up, "Godric," Hermione placed a lot of emphasis on the Godric, "We need to stick with these names while we are stuck in this wretched place."

Harry looked at Hermione, his green eyes twinkling. Hermione would have never believed that Harry's eyes could twinkle more than the deceased Headmaster Dumbledore. With Dumbledore it had meant keep alert, so Hermione was sure that with Harry it would mean keep alert and armed if at all possible.

"I do believe that you are right, Wen." Hermione gritted her teeth at the nickname Harry had just given her. "Sorry, Sally. I'll remember to use your proper nickname." Hermione's eyes widened. She saw Draco clenching his wand, debating whether or not history would be altered too much if the Boy-Who-Refused-To-Die finally died. Hermione went over, touching his arm. She let out a sigh of relief as Draco relaxed. They both tuned back in to Harry and Luna's conversation.

"All right, God. That is an acceptable nickname." Luna nodded her head, a dreamy look in her eyes, "People will look at me oddly. I like it."

"Good, Hel. I'll make sure to use it whenever is necessary," Hermione gritted her teeth more as she looked at Harry, her eye periodically twitching. From the way Luna and Harry were acting, she could see them as a couple, which was an exceptionally frightening thought. Combining two of the most insane people would produce bad results, she was sure of it. She also didn't even want to think of the offspring they would manage to have! Hermione knew she was getting ahead of herself though. Afterall, Harry and Luna weren't dating, were they? She made a mental note to watch them closer in an attempt to figure out her best friend.

Harry had a thought. He looked at Draco, "Sally? You know how to conjure food right?"

"Yes." Draco answered without thinking. When his brain caught up with his mouth, he realized his error. Of course, by that point in time Harry had encased him and Hermione in stones. "huh…" Draco said, sitting on the ground. He watched Hermione throw spells at it, each one degenerating in power and how accurate it was to the original spell.

Harry grinned at Luna, "I think we should head back for dinner, Hel. What do you think?"

"I think that it's a marvelous idea, dear God." Luna leaned up and kissed his cheek, looping her arm through his. They walked together like drunk monkeys, but happy drunk monkeys!


	7. Storytime and an Era Begins

**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter and its characters/contents. I will never own them. I really have no desire to own them. Caelin is my character though. I rather like him. **

**Authors Note: Well folks, here's another chapter. It's gotten goofier. However, it looks like it will be wrapping up soon. I am however working on a one-shot, so there will be more! Sorry for the delay, but I am a University student. **

Harry whistled as he cleaned the interior of Caelin's house. Caelin had asked Harry where his two other companions were. Harry put Caelin at ease by saying they had wanted to spend some time outdoors in each other's company. Caelin seemed to accept this, having already been led to believe that Hermione and Draco were a couple.

Luna came in, after bringing in the food for the evening meal, "How do you think they are doing, my lovely God?" Harry was quite pleased with how well Luna had taken to his nickname. Caelin had blanched the first time he had heard it, believing it to be blasphemous. Luna had whispered something to him that had made Caelin see the humor in Harry being called that. Harry was not sure that he wanted to know what Luna had whispered to him to assuage his complaints. However, since the complaints were not coming anymore, Harry would not be upset.

"Quite well, Hel." Harry pulled her close, kissing her. Since he didn't have to fear about Hermione or Draco appearing, he figured he would kiss her all he wanted. Luna certainly didn't seem to mind. "Hel, I think we should go work on Hogwarts a little."

Luna cleared her throat, "But you know what is encased there." Harry rolled his eyes,

"I know that. You-Know-What happens to be encased right where the Quidditch pitch would be in present day. I figure we could get to work on the actual castle."

"I see, my wonderful lion God. When will we release You-Know-What?"

"Well, a few more days at least. You-Know-What has to come to terms with its mutual attraction to its other part."

"I see, yes, that would be the point. It would be silly to release them early. If we want them to get together, they would need to be in there for a few days, otherwise they probably won't have gotten together."

"However, we can't afford to lose time on building Hogwarts. Wen might decide to murder us if we did." Harry grinned at Luna, looping his arm in hers. He knew that Luna thought he was being childish, but there was some level of him that didn't care. The people in this time did not know who he was. The people wouldn't judge him. He could get away with any childish prank with just a slap on the wrist.

'Okay, might be exaggerating there.' Harry thought to himself, a smirk tugging at his lips. 'They did care a little bit when I painted a huge pentagram in the middle of the village.' Harry had been bored that evening. His old sleeping habits were still present. Deciding that a walk would clear his mind, Harry stumbled across some red paint. It wasn't his fault that the temptation was too strong. He had no choice but to give in! At least, that was Harry's argument. He was sticking with it! Harry walked to the grounds, grinning at his makeshift prison. He had carefully placed it where the Quidditch field would go. Never let anyone say Harry didn't use forethought!

"We should whistle while we work!" Harry said. He started singing old nursery rhymes that he remembered. The rocks were dancing as he moved them. Luna watched Harry start building the foundation, again, with a smile on her face. She had been watching him carefully over the weeks. Being transported into the past had done a world of good for Harry. The demons that he had been carrying around seemed to no longer weigh on Harry's conscience. The fun, or mayhem as some of the villagers had put it, that Harry caused proved the healing on his soul.

However, healing or not, Harry's singing was still the worst singing she had ever heard. If he did not stop soon, she might commit murder of some sort. Now, whether that murder would be his vocal chords or his actual life would be determined when he answered her next comment, "God!!! Stop torturing us! Please, God!"

Harry grinned, "Come on my little happy badger! Look on the bright side of life!" Luna groaned as Harry started singing the song 'Always Look on the Bright Side of Life'. Harry grinned at her. She shook her head, wondering how a man with his brain could ever have vanquished the Dark Lord. Luna went to the Quidditch pitch, deciding to listen in on their matchmaking.

Hermione stopped flinging spells at stone wall, flopping onto the ground next to Draco. "How could they do this to us?" She moaned, leaning back. "It's so dreary in here…and dull."

"It's Harry Bloody Potter. What did you expect from him? He finds things like this humorous. Don't ask me why. It's how he got Dean and Ginny together at the end of seventh year." Draco grinned seeing the astonished look on Hermione's face.

"How did you know that?"

"Well, at Christmas, I went to Potter, begging forgiveness. I couldn't take being in Voldemort's inner circle. I-" Draco stopped, "Wait, why am I telling this to you?" Draco asked himself, not sure why he had felt the urge to explain himself to this woman sitting very provocatively next to him. Well, Draco was willing to admit that Hermione really wasn't sitting provocatively, but it did make him feel better to label it that way.

"Because I'm in here with you, and I'm a willing listener. I assume that's a rarity for you." Hermione spoke sardonically. It was hard for her to keep all of her bite out of her voice when she spoke with Draco; however, she found it easier to not say cruel things if she let herself be a little sarcastic. Draco looked at Hermione, laughing slightly,

"All right, all right. I get the point. I should pour my soul out to you because you are a Gryffindor that would never, ever spill my secrets to anyone else. Is that it?"

"I wouldn't tell anyone. I never told Harry about some of the things Ron mentioned. I still live with that." Hermione whispered.

"What? He admitted to being a traitor to his girlfriend?"

"Not exactly," Hermione whispered, "Told me things that Harry would have recognized as Ron being traitorous. He asked me to not tell anyone, so I didn't." Hermione looked up, not wanting to look at Draco. She didn't want to see any pity or disgust. She clenched her teeth, trying not to cry at the thoughts of the war. Having her boyfriend try to kill her other best friend was the biggest relationship killer.

Draco was beginning to see that Hermione Granger was different than he had thought at Hogwarts. Yes, she was a know-it-all witch that was exceptionally judgmental and fun to rile, but she seemed to be loyal and courageous. Not many people that Draco knew would keep things from Harry Potter, even if they had promised to never tell him. The man was an infuriating force to reckon with, mainly because he was so child-like yet skilled at having things turn out right in the end. Draco would love to be able to have that happen for him.

Sadly, Fate had deemed that Draco Malfoy was not to have Harry Potter's gift to seem completely oblivious to all that is going on around him and still turn up on top. If Fate had allowed Draco to have that ability, he was sure that he would not owe trillions of favors to the Blasted-Boy-Who-Lived.

In spite of the hardship, Draco had encountered in his life, he had always maintained that his fundamental beliefs on the bloody Golden Trio had been right. Now, Hermione Granger was proving him wrong. If Draco was honest with himself, he would admit that he wasn't all that upset about being proven wrong. He was more upset about who had proven him wrong. Draco's curiosity wanted to know why she trusted him to not mock her with this tidbit of information.

"Why are you telling me this?" Draco allowed the comment to slip out of his mouth. He was honestly curious about why Granger would even consider telling him. Granted, he was thinking that maybe he shouldn't have asked her why considering the look she was giving him. It wasn't a condemning look. She was giving him a look that said it should've been obvious why she had told him. He did not like that look. It implied that he wasn't all that intelligent. Draco liked thinking that he was very intelligent. He had, afterall, been Head Boy. He wouldn't have been made Head Boy if he was dumb.

Okay, so Harry had forced McGonagall to make him Head Boy, but that wasn't important. Was it?

"Harry trusts you. It's easy to see. He acts normal around you." Hermione said softly. She let out a short laugh, "Well, I guess I should say what qualifies as normal for Harry. To us, that behavior doesn't seem normal, but for him, it's pretty much the standard." Draco snorted at that.

"That man wouldn't know what 'normal' was if it hit him over the head like a two-by-four. I swear, he would probably pick it up and go, 'My, what an odd occurrence. I'll put this in my box of odd things that shouldn't happen.' Seriously, that man needs to go through some rigorous therapy." Draco looked at Hermione oddly as she started shaking her head frantically,

"Oh no! Therapy is a very bad thing! Trust me!"

"Why?"

"Ginny and I suggested therapy for Harry after the war. We figured his behavior was probably some reaction to the war ending and the betrayal. Well, Harry decided to humor us," Hermione shivered a bit, "I'll never put another psychologist through that again as long as I live. I swear Harry tormented the poor fellow on purpose. Either that or he reached his decision to emulate Dumbledore and he was still working out the kinks of being insane like Dumbledore. I'll never figure out which it was, and I know that I never want to know!" Draco blinked at Hermione's rapid speech regarding their leader. How Harry always managed to end up taking control of that position, Draco couldn't understand. _Luna_ would make a better leader.

Actually, Draco was not entirely certain that Luna wasn't the man behind the curtain. "Okay, so Harry drove the man insane I take it?"

"Oh no, much worse."

"Worse than insane? Hermione, there is nothing worse than being insane. Believe me. I've thought about this quite frequently. The lack of self is not fun." Draco gazed at Hermione incredulously. How could a witch as smart as she was not understand how utterly despairing insanity was? Not that Draco was insane. Or rather, he was pretty confident in his lack of insanity. There were days that he thought Harry drove him insane, but those days had become less frequent.

One could argue that this meant Draco was becoming insane and rapidly decreasing in his sanity levels. Hermione was not going to point this out to the silver-eyed man though. She could see his right eyebrow start to twitch. Hermione was not sure that Draco realized he did this whenever a conversation about Harry was going on for too long. Ironically, the twitch never occurred when they were around Harry, but talking about the green-eyed curiosity seemed to make the twitch appear frequently.

"Hermione, I need to know. What is worse than insanity?"

"Wanting a job as a politician." Hermione shivered. She remembered the feverish look in the therapist's gaze as he frantically shoved papers into his briefcase. His eyes had been bright and wide as though he weren't seeing anything.

"Wait, the man that ran against Harry for the Prime Minister position…the one people said should never have left his day job…that wasn't? Was it?" Draco looked at Hermione, praying she would deny what Draco was quickly deducing about Harry's ex-therapist.

"Oh yes. It was. After he lost to Harry, he went off to America of all places. Became an actor. An actor Draco! He was a brilliant wizard psychologist! One of the best in the field! He's an actor now!" Draco's eyes had widened.

"He didn't? He drove a wizard to acting? What parts does he tend to act?"

"Wizards, mages…anything in the fantasy or children industry!"

"No! You may be right Hermione. Insanity is much better." Draco shuddered at the thought of becoming a professional actor.

"Of course insanity is! At least you are happy in your mind! With acting, you don't know whether what you're saying is what your original thoughts were or not! It's like mind rape! You end up being brain-washed into this celebrity machine!" If there was one part of muggle culture that Hermione abhorred, it was the American movie industry. "It would be okay if he had stayed in Britain, but Hollywood Draco! Hollywood!"

Draco shuddered again, "They are the best at brainwashing. How one could fall so far, I do not think I will understand. Harry caused this?" Hermione nodded. Draco could tell that Hermione was telling the truth. No one could make up such a true look of fear. Her brown eyes were covered in the fear, "No doubt about it? The man wasn't already on his way to a midlife crisis?"

"The man was seventy! I mean, yeah, being a wizard he looked forty, but still! He had gone through his midlife crisis! Switching from working at the Daily Prophet to being a psychologist had been his crisis! Harry drove the man to something much farther than insanity!" They both shuddered together.

"Okay, we are not going to speak of Harry for awhile. Let's not think about a man who has also probably turned the bend from being insane into a land that must have happiness somewhere in it." Hermione looked at Draco.

"Draco, that didn't make sense," She trailed off at the look of horror on Draco's face.

"Talking about Potter has infected me! The mere mention of his name makes you head into insane Potter world! Save me Hermione!" Hermione yipped as Draco launched himself at her. He latched onto her stomach with his arms, pulling himself close to him. Hermione struggled not to laugh at the image of the Slytherin King holding onto her shaking. She wasn't sure what the protocol was in a situation like this, but figured her priority should be to calm Draco down. She rubbed small circles on his back, trying to stop the shaking.

Fifteen minutes had probably passed by the time Draco realized what was going on. Hermione had expected the arrogant man to pull away and tell her that what had happened had not happened. Hermione blinked as Draco just gazed at her intently with his silver eyes. She could not determine what was causing him to look at her this way. She tried to think of all the reasons he could be looking at her so unflinchingly. She felt like maybe he was measuring her qualities or some such nonsense. It was probably foolish of her to think that, but it was how she felt.

No one would ever be able to imagine the surprise and pleasant shock Hermione had felt when Draco leaned in and pulled her close in a kiss. She was also sure that no one would ever be able to guess Draco's look when Hermione swore after he finished.

"Well, not the reaction I was expecting to the kiss…but if that's how you feel, won't happen again." Draco said, backing away. Hermione saw a spark of hurt that was quickly being hidden behind his icy mask. She had to reassure him soon, or something that was this pleasant would not happen again.

"Draco! It wasn't you."

"Sure, it wasn't. That's how they all start. Then they go into the 'It's me' speech." Draco growled the last bit out. Hermione winced at the raw emotion in his voice. She should have realized a human being existed somewhere deep inside Draco Malfoy. Just because he gave a harsh exterior to everyone didn't mean he was a bad person inside.

"No! It isn't either. It's just if we go out there being nicer to each other and liking each other, then that means they were right." Hermione looked at Draco, more than a little annoyed at the thought of Harry and Luna being right about the two of them. She could have sworn she saw Draco's mind putting the pieces together. She let out a little laugh as he swore, rather violently.

"Damnit! I don't want to give that maniacal, little, happy go lucky, insane, must be an alien man the satisfaction of being right about whom I should date! I refuse to!" Draco went back to swearing violently. He paused when he noticed that Hermione was lightly touching his arm. He noticed a small little grin on her face that would best be described as reminiscent of being maniacal. "What have you come up with?" He asked, cautiously, knowing that if Harry had infected him with Harry's insanity, there was no way that Hermione could have avoided infection.

"Why not pretend to be an over the top couple? Give them what they want, but in doses they would never want." Draco perked up at that thought. It was a simple, yet absolutely brilliant prank. One that Harry would probably never figure out. Draco figured he should qualify with the word probably because a person would never know exactly what things Harry would figure out and which items would remain buried.

"Do go on." Draco said, looking at her a look of pure pleasure on his face. Hermione smirked, a little knowingly. Draco swore she knew why this little plot of theirs would succeed, rather than failing dismally.

"Think Draco. If we start of with small little pet names, they won't think anything is off. But then, instead of going into little corners, we start fawning over each other in public. We display the affection we feel for them to see with little things." Had Draco not noticed the small shift in her voice to that of a shallow girl, he might have noticed that she was batting her eyes at him. Draco allowed a small grin to form,

"If you keep your voice normal for the first few times, they will never know!"

"Exactly. Eventually, they will grow so insane by our supposed closeness and public relationship that they will have to inform us we cannot go on."

"At this point, will we inform them that they have been had?"

"Do you want to ever have children?"

"Yes?"

"What do you think the answer is going to be to your question then?" Hermione looked at him, trying to keep laughter in.

"Right…so what do we do when they do this?"

"We immediately tone the relationship down. At that point, Harry will figure it out. Because he figured it out, you get to pass on your family name. If you tell him, it will be like you are gloating." Draco nodded, understanding why they wouldn't be informing Harry about the joke. "Luna will probably never catch on to the fact that it was a big hoax, but that is fine."

"I can agree to that." Draco rolled his eyes at the thought of Luna ever figuring out that anything was a joke. He had heard Harry telling a joke about nigglers. Luna, of course, had assumed that Harry was telling the truth.

Draco was silent for a moment, lost in his own thoughts. He turned, grinning at Hermione, "Let's forget about them for a bit." He leaned in kissing her, snogging Hermione Granger properly.

Harry looked at Luna as she wandered back, "How are the lovely Wen and Sally doing?" He had noticed she had gone to the Quidditch pitch. In the time she had been gone, he had accomplished quite a lot of building on Hogwarts. Surprisingly, it was starting to look a lot like a castle. Luna would never admit that she worried that Harry would make it look like a boat, or something equally incorrect.

"I don't know. Either Wen killed Sally or Sally killed Wen would be my guess. There was no noise coming from their stone prison. I don't know that our diabolical plan will work in forcing those two to actually get together. I'll be very upset if the rabbit and fox do not end up together."

Harry gazed out in the distance, trying to figure out which would be Draco in Luna's analogy. If Harry were honest with himself, he would admit that he couldn't figure it out, but since he was Harry Potter, he would never admit to such an awful thing. "I suppose it would be upsetting. The fox is most certainly the best possible mate for the rabbit."

"Better than the pansy." With that comment, Harry knew that the fox referred to Hermione, whereas the rabbit meant Draco. Harry bit the inside of his mouth to try not to laugh. He had this perfect image in his head of a little fluffy white rabbit that had this incredible smirk on his face. Harry managed to not laugh out loud, but internally, he was laughing so hard he had mental tears on his face.

Days passed with Harry and Luna working on building Hogwarts. It was only after a week had gone by that Caelin thought to ask about Hermione and Draco. Harry and Luna looked at each other, remembering that they had imprisoned their friends. With that knowledge, came the realization that they had forgotten their friends. Harry thought quickly, trying to come up with a reason,

"They went looking for an old friend. They said that they would be back by tomorrow at the latest." Harry nodded his head with his words, almost as though he were trying to convince himself of what he was saying. Caelin looked at him suspiciously, not too sure how much he believed what the young man was saying. He nodded his head, showing that he accepted their reasons.

Harry and Luna worked very quickly to get the work around the house done. They hurried down the hills and around the trails to where they had placed the stone prison on the soon to be Quidditch Pitch. Harry looked at Luna, "Well, Hel, it's been nice knowing you."

"Come off it God, Wen and Sally will forgive us. They are not so cruel as to want to kill us."

Harry sighed, shaking his head, "I pray you are right Hel. Otherwise, I will have not lived nearly as long as I would have liked."

"Why? How long do you want to live?"

"Why, forever of course, dear Hel. Forever is the only length of time worth living. Gives you a chance to try doing nearly everything."

"Nearly everything?" Luna asked, curious as to why forever wouldn't give Harry a chance to do everything.

"Well, think about it: if I live forever, I'm going to be able to do everything that exists today. However, just because I'm living forever doesn't mean that time stops. Time is going to keep going forward even as I am living forever. So new things will be introduced yearly, if not near daily. All of a sudden there is no way I can try everything in forever because things are going to be constantly made."

Luna nodded, understanding Harry's logic behind his 'nearly everything' comment. She looked at the prison, "Time to release the hounds." She smiled as Harry waved his hands, the stones hurrying to their proper place in Hogwarts.

"Hey guys! Guess what? Hogwarts is built!" Harry grinned infectiously. The stones around Draco and Hermione were the last ones they needed to use. Luna had not realized this, but she grinned back at Harry.

If it was any indication, the grumbling from where the stones used to be meant that the others were not quite as pleased.

**Author's Note: Please review! I would much appreciate it, and to everyone that's kept up with reading this, much thanks!**


	8. Silly and Serious

**AN: Soooooo sorry about the long wait! Finals crept on me and then I get really busy! On top of that, I got impatient waiting for my other beta, so I found a new one, for this chapter. Hopefully she isn't too upset. Anyway, the next chapter is halfway done and should be completed here in under a week. So look for a new chapter in say 10 days! Enjoy the next segment!**

Hermione stalked over to Harry, poking him, "How dare you imprison me in a stone cage for your petty games?" Draco was smothering a laugh as Hermione walked around Harry as a lion would to its prey. It was obvious that Harry was nervous about Hermione's reaction.

"Come on, 'Mione! It was just a joke! I didn't mean anything by it! Please don't be mad!" Draco watched in amazement as Hermione stopped pacing Harry. He thought that he had been the only one to be affected by Harry's puppy dog eyes. Afterall, he had seen Harry turn those eyes on Luna, and it was like it didn't phase her. Granted, Draco did not know why he was using Luna as a measuring stone because she was just as insane, if not more insane, than Harry Potter was.

"Harry James Potter, I don't know how you manage it." Hermione sighed and then hugged him briefly, "But you've managed to walk your way out of trouble again." She looked at Hogwarts, sighing, "It's missing something…"

"It feels wrong…" Draco said softer, "Less magical." Hermione nodded to Draco, agreeing with him. Luna saw that and grinned, knowing their plan had to have worked. It was possible it had only worked partially, but it had to have worked somewhat. Luna was going to take that as a victory even though it was a very small one.

"Well! We'll have to fix that! I mean, we just finished building the structure. Obviously it does not yet have all the charms that the Hogwarts we know has." Harry grinned, "I think I'm going to go charm the stairs!" Hermione watched Harry leave, shaking her head. Watching Harry hop up to the school really brought to light the ridiculous nature of where they were. Or rather, the ever decreasing mental age of their Minister of Magic. Hermione marveled at the man's ability to actually successfully run a group of people. Though, without everyone around him, she was sure it would be quite impossible.

Draco pulled Hermione out of her reverie, "Oh dear god, both of them just went in and it's glowing purple. PURPLE! They just went in!" Draco was stepping back, almost as though he were afraid to even approach the building. Hermione watched the blonde haired man mumble to himself, stepping forward two steps, and then back three. She was trying not to laugh as the dunce walked himself into the lake. However, her efforts were in vain because as he stepped into the lake, she burst out laughing so hard that she herself fell to the ground.

Draco spluttered as he came up for air, glaring at the brunette witch rolling on the ground with laughter. Murmuring the _Wingardium Leviousa _spell, he guided the unsuspecting witch to a spot right next to him in the lake. With a flick of his wrist, he let go of the spell, watching as Hermione fell to the lake. The small little shriek before she hit the lake with a rather loud splash caused him to join her in her rather raucous laughter.

One thing led to another, leading to a very wet Hermione and Draco. The two stopped their silly antics when a perturbed Luna flung them onto dry ground with a wave of her wand, "Look at these two silly lovebirds! They are having silly lovebird fun! God! I want to have some really silly lovebird fun, or they can't have any!" Luna had turned her pouting face to Harry, who was doing his hardest to look stern at the two drenched members of their party.

"I do concur, Hel! It is just wrong of them to partake in fun while we are busy prepping our greatest legacy! Absolutely wrong! We must forbade it!"

"You mean forbid, God-dear."

"I know what I mean, and I mean forbade!"

"No, it is grammatically incorrect. Just think about it? It makes no logical sense the way you used it in that sentence there. You must use your mind and realize that you are wrong, God!"

"God is never wrong! That's what they preached when I was younger, and since I now know that I am God, I can't be wrong." Harry was quite successfully managing to keep a straight face. If someone looked at Luna closely enough, they would be able to tell that she was losing the battle to not start laughing. Hermione and Draco were both watching the two through back words at each other as though watching a tennis match that had lost all form of rules.

"Wrong God, sweets."

"I want sweets. May I please have sweets?"

"If you admit that you are wrong."

"Fine, I am wrong! I want sugar cane!" Hermione looked like she would have a seizure if Harry actually consumed sugar cane. Draco looked as if someone had murdered his best friend. Luna on the other hand was shaking her head.

"No, actual candy sweets. I'll give you a lemon drop."

"I'm not Albus, Hel. I am God! I will not submit myself to eating such a lowly piece of candy. I want to make my own mark with candy!" Harry's eyes had lighted up when he said that, almost as though he were mimicking everyone's Favorite Dark Lord. Draco would not put it past Harry to be purposefully imitating the Dark Lord for his own perverse pleasure. "So, obey me Hel and give me a different type of candy!"

"How about an orange drop?"

"Ooo! They make those?" Harry leaned over Luna's open bag, seeing the most tantalizing orange drops, "Me want!" He started pouting at Luna until she placed one in his mouth. He grinned as he started eating it. He starting hopping from foot to foot, "May I tell them what we accomplished? Please? Please?" Harry turned on his puppy dog eyes, grinning as he waited for approval.

"Oh Merlin, what did you do?" Hermione asked, very afraid to know of the answer.

Harry grinned, "I did something that I'm not allowed to say!" He grinned and started hopping in the direction of the castle like a rabbit. Luna, deciding to join in the game, proceeded to follow the insane minister.

**Now, like most normal people, this Narrator is very curious to know what happened between the time that Harry and Luna first entered the castle to when they ended up seeing Hermione and Draco at the lake. Let us step back in time to where are fabulously insane Minister and his open-minded sidekick were alone with two wonderfully working wands in the Castle of Hogwarts.**

Harry grinned looking at the charmless Hogwarts. He ran his hands, fondly, over the wood work of the railings. He supposed he hadn't told the full truth in regards to the charm status on the castle. He had placed a few resistance charms to prevent damage being done to the castle while they laid all the enchantments on the castle. He knew that in this area, the probability of a storm coming in and damaging the foundation was a distinct possibility. Contrary to most people's perception of him, his mind was still sharp, working on overload. Never in a million years would he have guess that the parchment with half of a potion on it, would hurl them a little over a thousand years into the past. If he was a sham of a fortuneteller, he supposed he would have divined these proceedings in some form of crystalline ball. However, it was a sham, so he supposed, he wouldn't actually have been able to do that.

Hogwarts was his home, his first and so far only home. It didn't matter where he traveled, he found himself hating every other place he lived. He supposed though, that Hogwarts must feel so much like home because he actually built it. Perhaps some small part of his magic had recognized that when he first entered Hogwarts as a scared eleven year-old boy. He wondered however why Hermione, Luna, and Draco did not feel the same affinity towards Hogwarts. Granted, with the stones, they were formed with his own magic. With Hermione and Draco locked up, Harry's magic was the only one strongest enough with the spell required to mold the stones to be built up into a building. Luna's magic preferred the more subtle, discreet way of functioning. Not that there was anything wrong with magic like that, Harry pondered. There was many a time that he wished he had the same amount of delicate finesse that she had.

Harry knew that Luna would be coming behind him shortly. A small smile went across his face. Time to become a bumbling fool again, with insanity aplenty. For all that she claimed to know him, the woman that had claimed his heart knew very little about the deeper complexities of the man running the world. Dumbledore had warned him once in a time delayed letter that the world would look to him to be a leader after the destruction of Voldemort. In the same letter, Dumbledore cautioned against being the man that Harry would most certainly be. Being a man that was confident, powerful as all sin, and with the same quiet nature Harry had, Dumbledore had surmised would put fear into the hearts of the very populace that Harry worked so very hard to save from utter annihilation.

As much as Harry hated to admit it, Dumbledore was right. He had seen it just within the few moments during the aftermath where he had stood sure of himself over the dead, decaying body of Tom Riddle. His emerald green eyes had been blazing with an internal fire that evening as he stood over his overconfident enemy. When he turned around to face what was left of the order, Harry had seen fear in the eyes of the very people who moments before had entrusted their lives to him. A carefully placed stumble and his hand behind his head as he grinned sheepishly, broke the tension; leading him to start his life has a very bumbling idiot.

Being a bumbling idiot had its advantages though. No one expected the Minister of Magic to be the type of person to use a time turner to go back six months, just to have an extended vacation in the tropics. Sure, there had been "Harry-sightings" all over the world as he went on his journeys, but how could a stumbling fool of a Minister be able to concoct such an incredibly executed plan? Luna was the one most likely to suspect him, and she knew nothing! She had even said once that she thought the people in those sightings were probably people just dressing up as Harry to have a good time.

Turning a corridor, Harry found himself in the most fascinating corridor of Hogwarts history. One would suspect that the Room of Requirement was just that, a Room of Requirement. After all, that is what everyone who knew of that room believed. However, it was a Room of Necessity as well. Cleverly placed was a turn of a knob that allowed only very specific people into a room just off the Room of Requirement. In his own time, Harry was the only person alive who knew of that little knob. If Harry had to take a guess, he would say that even Dumbledore had not known of its existence. The room was concealed as it was to hide a very special room: the heart of Hogwarts. It wasn't anything special, just a stone. But a magnificent stone at that.

Harry carefully sat down. He had no notion of how one was to feed a stone so that it was a living creature. He supposed that one would have to breathe life into the blasted thing, or possibly transfer magical essence. Harry grinned to himself, wondering when Luna would start missing his presence. A part of him was not sure that he cared if she missed him. He knew that he should care more about the woman that held his heart, but she didn't know the real him.

Pulsing magic filled the air as Harry slipped into a deep trance, meditating into his magical core. His eyes closed as his breathing steadied. The pulse stopped for a moment, as if it were preparing to take a deep breath. Harry's eyes snapped open, seeming to be a more vibrant emerald green that pulled into the white's of his eyes. Magic filled the room with a frenetic pace. Just as suddenly as the magic started to scramble about the room, it stopped, disappearing into the stone as Harry let out a rather deep breath, his eyes slowly closing.

When they opened again, nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Had someone entered the room at that moment, it would have seemed like Harry was sitting in front of a giant stone for no particular reason. There were many instances when people had in fact entered his office as Harry was coming out of a magical trance. Granted, when he meditated in his office, he tended to not go deep into his core or call the energy out of him as he prepared to snap it into a magical focus. So really, this was quite out of the norm for Harry.

Harry had no clue how long he sat with the stone. He supposed that it must have been hours. He didn't feel like consulting his watch as a way to discover how much time had past. He figured if he didn't know the time, he wouldn't be able to say he was late and have to talk himself into going out and working more. He felt relaxed in this room, as though he were allowed to be himself. Not that he wasn't himself normally. He was always Harry James Potter. But was he Harry James Potter the Quirky Prime Minister or Harry James Potter the Defender and Champion of England?

Did it really matter?

It shouldn't. In all reality, Harry should just let it go. He should not let his mind ponder such silly thoughts. Why should it matter if people thought he was quirky and just brimming with luck? Why should he care if people thought him talented? It didn't get him out of the limelight! Both options left him with people flocking around him. If he was being completely honest with himself, being Harry the Quirky Minister of Magic was easier than the other option. People LIKED Harry the Quack. He wasn't terrifying.

He hadn't brought down the most evil being of the century with a wave of his hand.

Well, okay, that was a stretch because he had brought down Voldemort with a wave of his hand. Granted, that wave of his hand had a lot of love and powerful magic flowing through it at the evil bastard. Rightfully so!

The mere thought of that last battle left a bitter taste in Harry's mind. The memories danced across his memory, almost distantly. If he directed his thoughts just right, they would be at the forefront, taunting him. It was the day that he had lost everything. No one mentioned how much the hero gave up. The fairy tales made it seem like the hero won the battle, got the girl and everything was wonderful.

Oh, how they had lied. Harry had had to change, become what he wasn't to survive in reality. Make no mistake, he would have killed Voldemort again and again, even if it meant coming to this reality. Too many people had died. No one deserved to die. Well, all right, Harry did fully believe that Voldemort deserved death.

Or did he? There were times that Harry believed in redemption. He thought that given the right spell, or the right words, that Voldemort could have come back to the side of right. That he could have been given a second chance.

Was there something wrong with a person that would have given their worst enemy a second chance? Harry didn't think so, but then again, Harry was that person. He just didn't believe that a person would be able to be so far gone that there was no hope for them anywhere.

Hope. Such a succinct, yet powerful, word. All Harry had to do was think it and it pulled him in. Without hope, the war would surely have been lost to Voldemort. Yet hope had always seemed so sad to Harry. When a person needs to have hope, it implies a certain futility, a certain level of desperation. Why would a person want to be at that level just so they could feel hope? Harry had been there, and he never wanted to return.

Hermione had once made a comment to him. It had been after a long day at work, or school in Hermione's case. Harry had gone to Hermione's after getting completely plastered. He only remembered bits of the memory. He supposed he must have blathered on about how it wasn't worth it. None of it was worth it.

Harry knew that he had said more, however Hermione had never mentioned the conversation. Must not have been all that horrible. Or it could have been so horrible that Hermione felt appalled at the mere thought of mentioning it again. Harry felt that it was better to think on the more positive side. Made it easier to act like a fool if he didn't think depressing thoughts.

If one thought too long about that passing of a thought, Harry knew that it would be able to conclude that it itself was a borderline depressive thought. Some things were too hard to avoid when a person was woolgathering.

Hermione had told him that hope led to better people. Hope gave people a common cause. Harry couldn't see it. Maybe he was not as idealistic as he should have been. Maybe he had been too hardened by the war, but he could not for the life of him see how hope would be able to provide anything. In fact, all he saw was that life made a huge mess of things.

All right, hope itself didn't make the mess, but it certainly didn't bode well for a person if said person was needing hope. Then again, Harry was a bit of a cynic.

Gazing at the ceiling, Harry decided it was time to get back up and go back to mischief and mayhem. A small glint returned to his eye as he thought of the charms he could place.

_List of things needed. . . 100 suits of armor, 1 Hermione, 1 Draco. . . perfect. . . _ Harry's thoughts trailed off as he left the room, one last look at the glistening black stone.

Harry looked for Luna around the castle. As he began his quest, he saw the portraits, or statues, that guarded the common rooms set up. He smiled slightly to himself. The Fat Lady, however, was not dressed in the garb that he remembered from school. In fact, she was dressed in the traditional upper crust woman garb from Ancient Rome. It was slightly flabbergasting. On top of that, she was thin!

Oh well, it must have been a prank sometime during Regency England that caused her to look as she did by the time Harry and his friends attended Hogwarts. The thought made him smile.

Harry found his compatriot sitting under the Hogwarts coat of arms in the main hall. Staring at the wonder of a woman in front of him, Harry's eyes softened of the thought of showing her the real him. Somehow, he thought that Luna would not be frightened by all that he was. In fact, he was fairly certain that the annoying twit would find him most humorous, even when he was being his scariest.

He didn't know what he was going to say, but he certainly had not planned on, "I want Riverdancing armor suits." He supposed he should not be surprised by the quite astonished and bemused look that Luna shot his way. In fact, he was blinking internally at his rather absurd suggestion. It was funny how Luna made him want to do silly, out of control, one might say quirky things, and not feel bad about the fact that he was doing them! In fact, he would go so far as to say, he enjoyed them quite a bit.

Watching Luna's lip turn up in a smile, pleased Harry quite a bit. Grabbing her hand, he took off running, smiling back at her as they went to look at their spell books. He was pleased to hear her twinkling laughter ring behind him. He truly was spontaneous with Luna, in a way he generally contrived himself to be like around anyone else. It was quite liberating to feel like he was doing it for himself. He was being goofy because it felt right to be goofy at this moment.

What a strange, yet pleasant feeling.

"Harry! Slow down!" Luna said, laughing as he pulled her to the spell books. She shook her head as he dropped down, very ungracefully, reading the books with a strange fervor. It was hard for her to describe how he read the books. It wasn't with the same lightness that it normally was. There was almost an intense concentration marred with humor.

"AH-HA!" Harry jumped up, waving his hand frantically in the air, Latin spewing from his mouth. Luna decided he was best described as a man possessed. She watched as suits of armor appearing before them.

"Um, Harry? Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Dancing. . . that would be an animation spell, animation spell. . . animation spell. . . " Harry murmured, eyes scanning the index in the book quickly. Just as quickly, he flipped the page, eyes scanning the page just as quickly. "Okay, clear the mind, picture the animation, say the spell. Very easy. . . easy as pie. Should back up though." Harry backed away from the suits of armor. If Luna had to guess, there were easily 500 suits of armor in the Great Hall.

_This is going to be disastrous. . . _Luna thought silently, praying that Harry didn't bring the castle down around their ears. Though, she supposed, _The castle would also be down around our ankles. So, why did I think just ears? That is very odd. . . hm. _

Luna watched as Harry waved his arms about, saying the spell. She certainly hoped that he was thinking of the correct animation, or else this was going to get very interesting. Tapping her foot to the music, Luna started to wonder whether or not Harry truly was insane. He was certainly not suited to being the Minister of Magic, that was very clear. He needed a job where being insane was all right. But she knew for a fact- _wait. . . when did the music start? _

Harry was bouncing from foot to foot, with barely hidden glee. The suits of armor were in fact doing Riverdance. Where the music came from, Luna was not even going to try to fathom. She supposed that Harry either did the music spell or the animation spell caused it to be activated. Either way there was definitely suits of armor dancing. Oh, and to just top it all off, they were dancing out of the Great Hall. This was going to be a mess of a spell to cancel.

Taking a few moments to calm herself, Luna started to hear the small, slightly demonic chuckle Harry was doing. This did not bode well for Hermione or Draco when they entered the school. In fact, if Luna had to take a wild guess, she would say that Harry had placed some sort of binding spell with the animation spell so that he would be the only one capable of taking it off. Just her luck.

Why did she have to always be the one chasing after Harry and cleaning up his messes? Why did he have to make so many? Why couldn't he be like all the other men out there and let her remain in her happy, single state. She certainly didn't want to like the annoying quack, but it seems as though having to admit that she liked the quirky man.

Yes, there were times that being around such a handsome, fun man was good. She wanted more though. She didn't want life to be a big joke. If she was truthful, she would admit that she had liked him since her fifth year. She had thought that Harry was different than everyone else, more thoughtful. Luna had believed that he had a quiet nature to himself, while being able to see the inherent evils. Instead, it seems he was a big prankster filled with no sense of gravity at all, just an extremely lucky man.

Why should she willingly shackle herself to a Weasley Twin Wannabe? Certainly did not have the ring of a happy life. Sounded like a bad Muggle sitcom. Or soap opera. She had a hard time deciding which.

Oh, Luna knew that other people thought her just as insane, but to be honest, most people only saw her around Harry. If she tried to be serious with Harry, he somehow turned it into a big joke. It was more productive to just go with his flow and get the answers in a more subtle fashion.

Most people did not see the reason why she had the most productive department in the Ministry. They only chose to see what they saw. Her own department knew about her devotion and ability to think. They didn't see her as Loopy Luna. Sure, they thought she was a little off in the head, but really, who wanted to be perfectly all right in the head? She sure didn't. She liked being slightly odd, off in the clouds. The clouds had more sense in them than most of the people she talked to on a daily basis. One should not ignore a conversation with a cloud anyway. They brought the rain.

Why did she have to love a man that barely had two cents worth of common sense to rub together?

Luna blinked as Harry started dragging her outside. She took one look at the lake, seeing the dripping what Hermione and Draco, taking another long sigh. It seems as though she was going to have to put on the goofy face again, not wincing as Hermione saw the insane suits of armor.


	9. Riverdance the Night Away

**AN: Okay, so it wasn't put up as soon as I wanted. But, I must say, this chapter has been posted a lot sooner than the others! Btw, I am pretty certain I will keep the Narrator descriptions in. I kind of like them. Enjoy the story and thanks to all that reviewed!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own this story, despite my wanting to. **

**Chapter 9  
**

**This Narrator would like to give a quick reminder of the last major decision made by the Minister of Magic. Last time this story took place, the Minister was seen frantically waving his arms about as he spoke carefully crafted words at around 500 suits of armor. Contrary to popular belief, these words were not a speech bemoaning the fact that he had over 500 suits of armor. In fact, the Minister was animating said suits of armor to do a rather absurd dance for a suit of armor. Riverdance. No, this Narrator is not quite sure if the Minister was thinking in the rather pivotal moments leading up to said animation. However, this Narrator is quite certain that the readers desire to find out the result when the Minister's best friend, who was not present at the animation, takes the news. **

Hermione's mouth dropped as she looked at the hallway leading to the great hall. Looking up the Grand Staircase revealed more of the dancing monstrosities. How Harry had managed to create these things was beyond her. It was not out of her abilities, though, to reverse it. While she had been a Prefect, the number of times students had tried the same thing, on a much smaller scale, were beyond counting. She waved her hand, attempting to reverse the spell. Instead of reversing, the spell visibly mutated. Visibly! How could a spell visibly do anything!?

No matter how impossible it seemed, the spell had mutated from her attempt at reversal. She had thought that the Riverdance was bad. Oh, how horribly wrong she was. In fact, she was certain that the Riverdance was immeasurably better than how these evil animating creatures were acting now. With music to assist the creatures, because heaven forbid they do this without music, the tin men were doing the Macarena! How insidiously horrific! If she could only make Harry have half a brain again! She used to think he was smart with a hell of a lot of luck. Turns out he was a dithering fool with stupendous success at seeming lucky. Okay, she would have to admit that he was in all probability lucky. There is no way that a fool could have bested the greatest dark wizard without having some measure of luck. It was just galling that such a fantastic fool had the ability to garner that much luck!

If Hermione hadn't been the smart witch that she was, she would have figured that Harry was putting on an act. But being his best friend, and almost always the one that was around him, she knew that he was not acting. He truly was a blundering fool. Made her wonder if maybe Ron wasn't the one with the smarts.

Oh, she knew that Harry was inexplicably cunning. There were shining moments when she was sure that he was the man she had known during the war. Apparently, his cunning was the true facade. He probably had to stay up all night thinking about those.

Hermione's mind flashed back to the nightmare Harry had had mere days before they were transported into the past. More than once she wondered if it truly had been lingering memories from the war, or if he was upset because his favorite sock had a small hole in it.

All right, that was a bit extreme, but the point was still relevant. Hermione knew that Dumbledore was not a blundering fool. Yes, some of his actions seemed to have no reason, but he didn't purposely play pranks. Or at least, he hadn't when Hermione had known him.

Harry was just so frustratingly complex. His insane silly days far outweighed his normal, cunning days. It was a wonder he was able to successfully mold the wizarding and muggle worlds together! In fact, Hermione's dissertation was about how Harry had bungled the job. She had never told him that, but she truly believed that he had. Yes, the Muggle world was very accepting of the Wizarding World. However, the Wizarding World was not liking the Muggle Invasion, as some wizards had taken to calling it. If Harry had any grasp of politics, he would never have started the merging process until he had a majority of support in the Wizarding World.

Granted, Hermione did not know the reaction of the American Wizarding Academy or even the Asian Influence School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Surprisingly the whole world knew of the Absurdly Located In the General Vicinity of the Northern Arctic School of Hocus Pocus' opinion on the matter. Why anyone would want to know the ALGVNA School's opinion was beyond Hermione's reckoning.

Hermione snorted, thinking that their opinion shouldn't even be considered credible. They were, of course, in agreement with Harry, and why not? He had probably hunted the school down just to get their opinion!

Never think that Hermione had a low opinion of Harry. After Ron took off in the tense moments after the Last Battle had been won, she had had to nurse Harry back to health. Despite his appearance of being perfectly fine, he had suffered quite a few injuries and magic loss during the battle. It was evident by the fact that he had stumbled. Hermione had no doubt that he wore a mask for the rest of the world, because when he was with her, he was not quite as silly, allowing a bit of seriousness to enter into the conversation.

Then again, Hermione only saw him on very rare occasions back home. The venture had the Snape household was what started them on spending all this time together. It is highly probable that she is finally seeing the true Harry Potter. Without a doubt, this was most annoying.

Laughter with an edge of hysteria to it cut through Hermione's musings. Hermione turned and saw Draco leaning against a wall, laughing so hard that he was crying. She could tell immediately that it was not happy laughter, but hysterical, unbelievable laughter. Draco started talking to her,

"There's no hope for us. We're stuck here. As long as Potter is allowed to run things, we are stuck for forever! Forever!" Draco laughed, "Dancing armor! Ridiculous!"

Harry grinned and stopped part of the spell, just by waving his hands. Hermione shook her head, wondering again how powerful Harry was. She knew that she had dismissed it out of hand, but was there a possibility that Harry was not quite the bumbling fool that he portrayed to the world. She kept coming back to the thought that if he wasn't an idiot, why would he hide it from his best friends? What would be wrong about sharing with at least Luna, a girl he claimed to love, the truth? Hell, she would be okay with him telling Draco Malfoy.

All right, she would not be pleased per say that he was confiding in Draco. Or at least, upset that he hadn't confided in her. She had nursed him back to health! She had put of completing her dissertation for him! The least the buffoon could do is tell her why he is insane!

Then again, he might not realize that he was insane. Insane people often have no clue that they are insane. At least, that is what the experts are constantly saying. They say that if someone claims insanity that said person is no doubt lying for attention.

How to prove whether Harry was insane or not though? Logically, she would have to find some way to test him. A test that would beyond a shadow of a doubt prove either insanity or sanity. However, she was pretty sure that a test did not exist in that respect. Besides, half the time the man seemed perfectly normal. It was the half where he was exhibiting baboon like tendencies that one drifted towards doubting his sanity.

Actually, Hermione doubted his sanity all the time. It seemed to her that after graduating Hogwarts, Harry lost a part of his mind. The big question now was how to find his mind again. If that was even possible. With her luck, Harry would be forever in the mindset of a two year old.

"Don't think too hard, 'Mione. Your brain just might explode," a joking voice said right beside her ear. Hermione almost jumped, her heart racing a little too fast. Her brain registered that the very man she was contemplating had managed to sneak up on her. Quickly taking in her surroundings, Hermione noted that Luna and Draco had left the room. She must have been stuck in her thoughts too long for them to have disappeared.

"Where did the others go, Harry?" Hermione asked, possibly a little sharper than she intended. She could tell that Harry had tensed, which seemed odd. She hadn't seen him tense, at least at her, since before the war.

"They went to continue adding spells. I am pretty sure they went into the Great Hall to add the charms there." Hermione detected a sharp tone in Harry's voice, the words coming out clipped. He was managing to look very relaxed, but Hermione felt a sharpness in the air, a very dangerous air. "Maybe you will want to go and join their more pleasurable company," Harry said mockingly, giving a light bow. His body language was still very relaxed and bumbling idiot like, but the mocking tone in his voice told Hermione that she had missed something. What, she was not sure at all. Without another word, Harry turned on his heel, walking in the opposite direction of the Great Hall. The urge to follow Harry was there, but Hermione figured he was throwing a child-like temper tantrum.

Or rather, that is how she justified her actions of heading into the Great Hall with Luna and Draco. It was very clear that Luna and Draco had not heard the conversation outside. To her, it had felt like Harry was shouting from the rooftops out her. She knew her imagination had probably amplified the sound. Or it was possible that what he said to her just seemed louder because of its emphasis? She didn't rightly know, she just knew that what she had just seen had scared her. Hermione had never been scared of Harry, at least after the war. During the war, there had been times that he had seemed like a man obsessed, a man on the verge of a breakdown, forever pushing his limits and exceeding everyone's expectation. It had induced a scared feeling in most people who had come in contact with him. He had exuded raw power in a manner that overwhelmed people that had come in contact with him.

Hermione shook her head slightly to clear her thoughts. She sent a small smile Draco's way, noticing his tiny look of concern. She was almost sure that Luna hadn't seen the wordless conversation, but Hermione swore that that girl knew everything that went on around her. "So, what are we working on in here?"

"The stars," Luna spoke softly. Hermione almost missed her comment, but it was quiet enough in the Great Hall that it was almost harder to miss what she said. Hermione shot a slightly confused look at Draco, fully expecting him to clarify the comment.

"The enchanted ceiling. It's really the biggest thing that happens here. According to what I remember from Hogwarts: A History, it is really the only enchantment that comes from around this time within the hall. Though, we might want to consider tackling the food appearing, or at least finding people to work in the kitchen who can do that at each meal. I have never read anything that implies that wasn't happening at the beginning, so we might as well assume that it did."

Hermione nodded, "I don't know. Let me sleep on it, I might remember if I have read anything."

"You think you are all knowing now?"

Hermione shot Draco a very perturbed look, the comment cutting a bit too much due to Harry's thoughtless remarks. "I have studied a lot of the old texts regarding- Oh Merlin's Beard! That is why I recognized the handwriting! Though how Snape ever managed to get his hands on it, I shall never know! but of course, it is the only possible explanation, not considering the fact that I stare at it every single! How could I have been so dense! Logically of course, it means that those two texts I was reading were. . . man, I was stupid!"

Draco blinked at Hermione rapidly, trying to piece together what she was saying. He was figuring that she was talking to herself, however, that did not guarantee comprehension on his end. "Hermione? What are you babbling on about?"

"The potion! The page it was written on! The fact that it was so dastardly familiar while seeming utterly unfamiliar! But of course it would being written with materials far outdated! It would have been harder to write it! How could I have been so dense!?"

"About what!? What do you think you were dense about?"

"The potion!"

"What about it?"

"The handwriting!"

"I am not going to stand here and play twenty questions when I could be working on figuring out how to charm the ceiling, Minnie! So, what conclusion have you drawn in regards to the potion and its handwriting?" Draco was reaching the end of his patience, but he was trying to not snap too much at Hermione, not wanting her to get upset. However, the urgency or confusion in his voice must have woken her up because she turned her eyes towards him actually focusing on him.

"Did you just call me Minnie?"

"Yes, please answer the question!" Draco resisted the urge to kiss the flustered witch standing in front of him, though it was really hard.

"I wrote it! We are stuck in an ever increasing paradox!" Hermione whispered.

Draco blinked, "No we aren't. Remember what you said that last potions class seventh year? About how you could replicate what a Time Turner does, but making it go farther back with Cocoa beans?"

Hermione nodded, her eyes showing her confusion as to why it was important.

"I remember, because Harry charged me with making sure you and Ron made it out safely, that you were in the Place d'ancienne Sagesse. You were engaged in a rather heated debate with Snape as to whether or not it would be possible. Harry, being the very contrary man he is, had decided to stock the place with some very, very ancient vellum that had been unused. Claimed he had found it in the school. You of course did not have a quill, but managed to fashion one. You scribbled down some information quickly. You hadn't finished when Harry called for you and Ron on the battlefield. As I turned to follow you, I saw Snape pocket it."

Hermione blinked, as though remembering that day, "I had forgotten. It had blurred together with all the other days. He and I were always arguing about things like that." She breathed a sigh of relief, "Well, good to know we aren't stuck in a perpetual paradox. That would be rather difficult to explain."

Draco wisely kept his mouth shut about the perpetual paradox that they were already in. He gave her a small hug, wishing he could give her a comfort kiss, but not really comfortable with that in front of Luna.

**The Narrator would like to take a few paragraphs to jump back to the esteemed Minster of Magic. It is this Narrator's personal opinion that Harry was not acting in best form when he left as he did. Nor was it the best of ideas for him to frighten poor Hermione. Therefore, the only logical course of action is to take a side trip over to the crazy man and investigate what is happening in his head. Let us pray it doesn't drive all of us to insanity!**

Harry paced in the Room of Requirement. He knew it was the only room in the whole of Hogwarts that had all of the charms done to it. He paced the entire length, not realizing that the Room was responding to his wish for less space to pace and then more space to pace. Magical energy flowed out of his body, pouring into the room. After a few minutes, the pressure from the energy started to pester him. Harry stopped pacing, knowing that it would not really help in the long run. He sat down on the floor, starting to breathe in patterns. He found it so easy to slip into a meditative state.

Taking deep breaths, Harry let all thoughts leave his mind as he focused on directing the magical energy elsewhere. Harry knew that just setting the magical energy free would be all right, but he decided to go ahead and direct the raw power to places in the castle, telling it to help the castle come alive. He envisioned the Hogwarts back home, and directed the magic to the various parts, using what he saw in his mind's eye to shape the magic.

Most people did not even have the skill to feel magic. Being able to spin magic to do your will without a spell was unheard of. Dumbledore had alluded to such a skill once in Harry's presence. However, his mind had revealed to Harry that even the greatest wizard before Harry did not have the skill do to it. In some of Dumbledore's memoirs, he made multiple references to the possibility that only Merlin had had the ability to do so. It was rather hard for Harry to believe that only one wizard had been able to do this.

Hermione blinked as the enchanted ceiling formed over their heads. She looked at Luna and Draco, questioning them with her eyes. It became obvious that they knew none of what was going on. Gulping, she walked out of the Great Hall. The walls and very essence of the school felt as if it had come to life! Hermione did not understand how it was all of a sudden doing this, but she knew that it was tied up with there errant Minister in some fashion. Everything always was.

"Harry is behind this." Luna whispered.

"He's the only possibility, but how? I didn't think he had the power, or hell, the skill, to do something like this," Draco murmured, very baffled as to how Harry could be doing this.

Hermione knew without a doubt then that Harry had been putting on an act for all those years. He had outsmarted the smartest witch, according to Harry. He had set up a big act, fully intending for no one to figure out the truth. Hiding just enough of his true self in with the bumbling fool act so as not to confuse people when the real him might show more than it should. Hermione knew without a doubt that she should have seen it. She didn't know how she could have kept convincing herself that he was just having momentary lapses of intelligence. He was the one that should have been Head Boy! She knew that! McGonagall had told her as much!

She had been deaf to her own heart's warning about her friend. Her heartless words before would have ripped through him. Harry may have thought that she could see through it enough to know that he truly wasn't an idiot. Maybe thought that he was acting immature for the position he was in, but not an idiot. That itself had to be the killer. The question was how to fix it.

"Guys. . . what if we made a terrible mistake?" Hermione's voice was a very hushed whisper, as though she herself couldn't believe what was happening.

"What?" Draco said, confusion still showing due to the sudden magic influx.

"Harry. He has to be the one doing that. He is more powerful than we know. He has to be!" Hermione sighed, "What if he had been hiding his true self?"

Draco rolled his eyes, "Of course he has. Imagine how the Wizarding World would respond if they knew how powerful he was. He won't admit it, doesn't think we'll respect him."

"Huh, that makes sense." Hermione whispered, preparing to go up and talk to Harry. She looked for hours, not finding Harry. She didn't think to go to the Room of Requirement. She went back to Caelin's home, asking him if he had seen Harry.

Time passed by and soon it was a few days to the beginning of September. Hermione and Luna were worried. They had not seen Harry in about two months. Draco seemed to not care, but Hermione thought he did worry. She realized this as she laid next to him at night and when he should have been asleep, he was really tense. It was the morning of the day before the first of September that all three of them received the same note.

_Come to the Great Hall at 10 AM, sharp. Do not be late. _

_-H.P._

Luna was positively bouncing with delight. She was convinced that Harry had sent the note. Hermione was willing to say that Harry probably had as well, but the question became what was he up to. Why had he sent the note? Why was it important for them to not be late? What was Harry playing with?

Draco looked at the two women. He was not nearly as baffled as the others. He figured Harry had Hogwarts ready to open. Since Draco knew they would be here for a bit, he had prepared lesson plans for the classes records said that Slytherin taught. If that wasn't it, well Draco might be a little upset. He wanted to finish this business and get home. Granted, to do that, Hermione had to reverse what she did. He knew his bright girl could do it, but he wasn't sure how soon she would manage it.

Draco laughed a little, not loud enough for the girls to hear him. He didn't want them to think he was a freak after all. The whole business of being stuck in the past was wearing down on everyone, except for Harry. Harry seemed to thrive in this environment. He couldn't for the life of him figure out why. Sure, here Harry didn't have to worry about reporters banging down his door as they tried to get a story. Harry didn't have to try and be a responsible minister. Harry also wasn't being forced to hide how powerful he was constantly, well, except around the three of them. Draco suspected that Harry hid the true strength in his power from everyone.

Wait, Draco just answered his own question. He stopped, staring up at Hogwarts, knowing that Harry was in there. A Harry that was more free here in the past than he was in the world he helped set free. With one last small laugh at his realization, Draco turned again towards Hogwarts, picking up his pace. He wasn't going to let Harry Potter keep him in the past!


	10. All Good Things Must End

AN: So, this story is completed. If I get enough incentive, I may feel inclined to write a few one shots that fit in here and/or write an epilogue. As it stands now, I am happy with where I have left this. As always, thanks to everyone who reviewed and review this chapter!

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Any reference to anything that may have happened to someone is unintentional. Anything that seems like a real person is unintentional.

Chapter 10

**The Narrator would like to draw everyone's attention back to the time from which our intrepid travelers had left. While the four of them were looking for a way back home, the others were having a slightly bigger problem. It was someone about six foot tall, reddish hair cut slightly short, vivid blue eyes, and considered to be an incredible nuisance to most of the people gathered in the room. **

"Ronald! He's been wanting to see you for years after the last battle! Why did you choose the time that he goes missing to show up!? And where is our sister?" One of the twins, because to be honest most of the people did not know which one was speaking, said rather rudely to the errant brother.

Ron sighed, wishing that there was a free chair in the room. He had worn himself out the past few months to get home, "I came home because I saw he was missing. I don't want to see him. I wanted to see my family. Ginny was following behind me but decided to sleep at an inn at the last place we stopped to get food. I expect she'll be home shortly." The other twin whacked Ron across the head before storming out of the room. It was easy to tell that even Mrs. Weasley was upset with her youngest son. However, Bill beat her to scolding the young man.

"You immature, selfish brat! He was your best friend! He protected you! He threw himself in front of a killing curse for you, knowing that his luck could have run out! And then you leave him! You abandon him to deal with all the repercussions by himself! They tested to see if he was a Dark Wizard, Ronald. He was locked up for a month with only bread and water for food. That was after he had recovered his wits from after the Last Battle. He hadn't regained his health. We're lucky he survived. And you tell us that you don't care that he's missing? Possibly dead with three others!?"

"One of which is Malfoy, Bill. A death eater. The man who tormented myself and Ginny as well as Hermione! A Death Eater! He let a Death Eater stay out of Azkaban while letting Snape's name be defamed, when we all know that Snape fought for the side of the Light, even though he did kill Dumbledore. Harry is unhinged. He deserves to be locked up. Don't forget: you weren't there!" Ron snapped at his older brother. He turned to glare at the snort that came from the room. He was a little surprised to see that it had come from Charlie. Who would have thought that Charlie would be disappointed in Ron not approving of Harry.

"Harry may be unhinged, but it isn't in a bad way. He's just living a childhood he never had. Also, if I hear anyone saying I said this, I'll know who to come to." Charlie glared at all in the Weasley household. He did not like his name in the paper anymore. "Also, if you aren't going to help us with the search, I suggest you vacate these premises." Charlie had seemed to channel Percy ever since his death.

Ron sighed and sat down, "What do we know?" They looked at him a little surprised. Ron took a moment before answering, "Hermione and Luna are with them. I don't want them hurt."

Arthur sighed, not liking that answer. He would have preferred that his son was on the way to forgiving Harry. The hesitation in Ron's answer went unnoticed, "They have been missing for over two months, Ron. Chances are they are dead."

Ron looked at his father's, his eyes turning cold, "That is not the question I asked. What do we know? What was the last place they were at?"

"Hermione was going through Snape's estate, organizing it for Harry. Luna was seen going to the Snape household to meet with Harry. At least that is the assumption. Harry frequently joined Hermione at the household, assisting. Luna and Malfoy were seen entering the household together, almost as though they had been meeting there frequently." Arthur finished describing what happened to Ron and Ron nodded to himself.

"Thanks, dad." He got up and left before anyone could say anything. Ron went down away from the house before taking out one of Hermione's fake Galleons. He made it light up and change the date to an hour later.

Back in the house, the twins pulled their coins out before leaving. They went to where Dumbledore's Army met during the war.

Ron glanced at everyone gathered, "I have a question for all of you gathered: Do any of you know what Hermione, Luna, Draco, and Harry were working on before they disappeared?"

"Why should we tell you?" A voice shouted from the back. Another joined in,

"Yeah! You abandoned Harry! Why should you care?"

"Listen! Harry is powerful. More powerful than anything we've ever encountered. I would say he rivals Godric Gryffindor in power. That's scary shit. It also means we should find them. What do you know?"

Neville stepped forward, "I wasn't supposed to know this, but I was Luna's second in command. She wanted me to know in case something went wrong. She told me to tell those I trusted." Ron nodded at Neville encouragingly, "They were working on a time potion. Something that would take them farther back in the past then anyone has ever gone before."

Ron looked at Neville, stunned. He didn't have to look at the others to know that they were giving similar looks. He struggled to come up with a way to voice his opinion of what was happening. Finally, he just said, "Oh, bloody hell."

**The Narrator would now like to redirect the readers attention back to the time that our four intrepid wanderers are in. Based on previous tellings, the Narrator would remind the readers that the three relatively sane members of the group are on their way to a meeting with the less visibly sane member who has a surprise for the others. Now, this Narrator does in fact know what the surprise is, but would feel guilty if they were to give away what is rightly the slightly Bonkers Minister of Magic in the very distant future. **

Harry sat at the Head Table in the Great Hall, looking at his handiwork. The banners were hanging from the ceiling. Pictures, not all the ones from his time, but all the ones he remembered as having been there from the founding, were hung all about the castle. The ceiling was enchanted, giving the Hall the open feeling that it otherwise wouldn't have.

Harry was proud of his work. He knew he should be as well. Not many people could claim that they built a school and managed to power it to last for quite some time as long as the headmasters bonded with the school. Granted, the last was Harry being a cheeky bugger and guaranteeing that all the people in charge of this school had to be loyal to the wants of the Heart of Hogwarts. Otherwise, the school would drain them.

Hearing the doors, Harry glanced up, seeing his friends come in. Before they could speak or say anything, he stood up, "Welcome, fellow Founders of Hogwarts, to the first day of the first Wizarding School in Great Britain. The little munchkins will be arriving in approximately six hours or so. I hope you have lessons drawn up. At your appropriate houses are the classes you shall be teaching. Seeing as its only the first year, I figured all of us could teach multiple classes as well as run the school together." Harry raised an eyebrow, "Any questions?"

"Where did you go?" Hermione asked. She had looked her friend over immediately, noticing a hint of dark shadows under his eyes and a little loss of weight. She was concerned. She knew that losing her temper with Harry was a bad thing. She just hadn't realized how bad.

Harry just stared at her, his green eyes clearly stating that he wasn't going to answer her question. "Well, let's get to work everyone!" He was very bouncy, clearly putting on an act for them. Hermione knew why it seemed off to her. It was forced. He wasn't even going near Luna, the person that he had said he loved. Hermione didn't know what to do about him. She looked over at Draco as he punched his fist into the air.

"Oh yeah! I guessed right!" The only person in the room not looking at Draco like he was insane was Harry. Draco grinned sheepishly at Luna and Hermione, "I guessed which classes Harry would assign to me. I guessed accurately! So I already have class plans!"

Reality started to sink in for Hermione. Class plans. An essential element for teaching a class. Students showing up in six hours. Classes starting tomorrow. No class plans drawn up. She had no idea what spells she could teach. She didn't know what spells had been discovered yet. Or did it matter? Could they use ones that they were taught back home and say they 'discovered' them? Would that enter them into a perpetual paradox? Was that a bad thing?

Luna blinked looking at Hermione as she paled. It was clear that Hermione had been so engrossed in figuring out the potion that she hadn't thought about the fact that they would be teaching classes. Luna would say that this was a first. "I believe our beloved brain book is having a meltdown. Which is odd, I didn't think books melted. I thought they burned. But this one is clearly melting."

Draco rolled his eyes. After spending months in the presence of Luna (and Harry at the beginning), Draco was getting really good at translating what he had dubbed 'Looney-speak'. Clearly, Luna was talking about Hermione and her ever growing white face. Draco decided he should try and calm her down, "It's okay, Minnie. Every-"

Harry started rambling without warning, "Minnie Mouse! That's who I want to meet! I want to meet Minnie Mouse. Or rather the first person to play Minnie Mouse. Mickey Mouse might be fun as well. I wish they had gotten real mice to play the two characters. I wonder if Walt was a magician or not? He seemed rather intent on a lot of the magical folk tales. I wonder if I could get this potion to let me go back to when he was alive. I'd love to ask him. Or I could scour his residence. I'm sure I could figure it out that way. There's also the veil, if we ever get it working. I wonder if Sirius would like to help. Paddy would love to investigate this. It would be fun. . . " Harry trailed off, realizing that everyone was looking at him oddly. He had grown accustomed to having conversations with himself in the middle of Hogwarts. Granted, he hadn't forgotten that the others were there. It was just natural for him to take a thought and run with it out loud. Not the best of ideas when there were people around you.

"Harry, are you okay?" Luna asked, going into serious mode. Draco actually looked at Harry, catching the tone Luna had taken. He figured if Luna was adopting that tone, then something was off. He saw the subtle shaking in Harry's hands, almost as though he hadn't had food in a bit.

"Perfectly fine!" Harry looked up as an elf came in. They weren't house elves, just elves that Harry had hired fair and square. "Trittin! Trittin has lunch! Food!" Harry hopped down and went to the table the elf, Trittin, was setting up food. Clearly, from the amount of food Harry piled onto his plate and proceeded to eat, he wasn't starving himself. Draco started running through all the things that could make a person thin while they still ate enough food to feed a small army.

Draco turned to thank Trittin for bringing lunch, noticing that Hermione and Luna were already doing so. Trittin seemed to glow with their praise, thanking them for their kind words as he left, saying he had to finish the Welcoming Feast. Hermione turned to Harry, prepared to yell at him for having elves, if Draco missed his mark. Draco spoke up to avoid Hermione doing that,

"You could have asked for help. You didn't have to drain yourself to get this done. We would have helped." Harry raised his head and looked at Draco, piercing Draco's smoky gray eyes with his own crystal emerald green. There was no discernible emotion evident. Draco was not sure whether he should let that worry him or not. He decided that he should press his luck a little farther, "You are not all mighty, Harry! You should have come to us! I'm hurt that you didn't! I think you just want all the glory for yourself!" Draco's eyes widened a bit. He hadn't really meant to say that last bit. It was clear that it was the wrong thing to say. He could tell that Harry's jaw had clenched. He held back a gulp as Harry stood up. Draco didn't hear anything from the two girls, so figured they were wisely staying out of this.

"Do not think to tell me what to do, Malfoy. You hardly would be able to comprehend the work that I have put in this school. And do not pretend to perceive what I want!" Harry looked like he was about to continue, but, surprisingly, Luna jumped to his defense.

"Don't even go there Harry! You suggested the nicknames for all of us. What did you come up with for yourself? Oh yeah, 'God'! You obviously have some sort of complex! Why else would you have come up with that!?" Luna's blue eyes blazed with anger, "How dare you suggest that we were anything but concerned for you? You were missing for two months! No sign of where you were! We came here! You weren't here! Then we get this summons saying to meet you here and you look like you were dragged through hell! You clearly have lost weight! You have small circles under your eyes. When was the last time you slept? So do not get on Malfoy's case!"

Harry glared at Luna, "Do not get involved in things you cannot begin to understand, Lovegood." Harry didn't say anything else just turned and walked to the doors. He said over his shoulder, "I'll be back down for the Welcoming Feast. Remember that we have roles to play." Without another word, he left the Great Hall, leaving behind two stunned friends and one upset lover.

Hermione recovered first, remembering the day. "Guys. . . don't be so hard on him." Hermione didn't explain why yet, just staring at the closed doors. Luna looked at Hermione, wondering why the smart witch had said that. Draco voiced his thoughts to his lover.

"Minnie, why should I be hard on that arrogant, pompous-" Draco stopped ranting when Hermione placed a finger on his lips.

"Back home, this would be the anniversary of the Last Battle. Today is the day Ron left him." Hermione looked at them briefly, returning her gaze to the doors. "Losing the weight wouldn't seem that horrible if it was the only thing. We overreacted because of the shaking and obvious lack of sleep. He'll be fine in a few days. You'll see."

Draco and Luna were silent, realizing that they might have misstepped in handling one of their close friends. There was nothing for it yet, aside from setting up their classes. Each of them sat at the small table with food, munching on it as they prepared everything. The taut silence seemed to echo throughout the hall. They all refused to look at each other, lost in their own thoughts of how things could have happened differently. Draco realized that dealing with Harry was almost like dealing with a temperamental two year old. Happy go lucky one minute, downright brooding and nasty the next. It was hard to follow on the best of days. On the worst, it was like walking into one's own personal nightmare and coming out worse for the wear.

Time ticked by. Once the students arrived, there was a whirlwind of activity. They were able to put on appearances, which wasn't hard with Harry acting the cheerful, exuberant Godric Gryffindor he was supposed to be. In fact, things were going so well, that none of them saw the fight nearly thirty years done the road.

The school was going strong. There were teachers for every subject and enough students to make Hogwarts seem as brimming with life as it was in their time. However, that wasn't a good thing when Harry and Draco met in the hallway to have an argument.

"I can't believe you are letting the impure in! I just can't believe you!" Draco shouted at Harry, poking his side. All the onlookers figured that they were talking about pureblooded wizards. That had been a debate that had been raging the last five years. The Founders had steadfastly denied to take sides publicly, but students said that Slytherin had been heard talking about the impure stock.

"I can't believe you would have a problem with this! It allows for magical diversity! It's completely logical to do this!" Harry shouted back at Draco. The two of them were headed to Hermione's work room. She had commented that she had completed what she thought was their ticket home. The two of them stormed into her rooms, still arguing. Luna cast a silencing charm on the door, noticing the onlookers.

"What would you know about snake purity!?" Draco shouted in Harry's face.

"Oh, I don't know! Quite a bit considering I was a Parselmouth!" The two would have continued their argument if Hermione hadn't separated the two of them.

"Guys! Shut-" A loud bang sounded in the room, a noxious smoke smothering them. All sound was cut off. Hermione's vision faded as she slowly sunk to the ground. She found it funny that she hadn't hit the ground yet.

Ron was pacing up and down the corridors of the Snape mansion. It had been three months since the four had gone missing. He had no clue how to bring them back. He had scoured the mansion with everything he had. He was about ready to admit defeat. He sank into a couch, dropping his head in his hands. These past few months had given Ron plenty of time to think about his relationship with Harry. If he was truthful to himself, he would admit that he was frightened. Harry was incredibly powerful. Unlike Hermione, Ron had stood right up with Harry as he battled with Voldemort. Watching as Harry cast a Killing Curse tore at Ron. His best friend had just up and cast the curse without another thought.

However, Ron was willing to admit that it had felt different from the other curses he had felt. It hadn't felt as malevolent.

Hearing a small noise, Ron's head jerked up. He was the only one at the Snape estate right now. It was midnight. The Aurors had already vacated the premises. So who could possibly be making the noise? Pulling out his wand, Ron crept silently to where the noise had originated, sticking to the shadows. What he saw shocked him to his core. Lying in the middle of the floor, looking no worse for the wear, were Hermione, Luna, Draco, and Harry. Out of all of them, Harry was the only one left standing.

In the future, Ron would deny being so overcome with emotion, but in the heat of the moment, he couldn't help himself. He caught Harry into a huge hug, "You're all right, mate!" He said, relief washing over him. Harry was stunned, but eventually hugged back, whispering so only Ron could hear,

"Is it really you, Ron?" Ron could hear the years of upset over their lost friendship. Ron nodded, not having words to speak. Harry just pulled Ron tighter.

"Where did you guys go?" Ron asked, about ten minutes later at Hermione's flat. Ron had sent a message to the whole of the DA informing them that they were back, but needed rest. He had arranged a meeting for the next day. Ron noticed the looks everyone gave. He suspected they wouldn't tell the truth. In fact, he expected it when he saw Hermione open her mouth. However, Harry beat her to the punch.

"Far into the past Ron. The Founding."


End file.
